


String Theory Therapy

by DollBlood



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Body Horror, Death, Depression, Eye Horror, Gen, Major Loss, Mute Frisk, PTSD symptoms, Post-Pacifist Route, Solomon is a ray of sunshine, The quadruplets are a bunch of little shits, Therapy, a little sans/oc if you squint, a mostly human family becomes friends with the skeletons, a universally constant family, and the skeletons are invited, angst is no longer contained to the down low, characters with personality disorders, im OC trash, mostly just the Hawthornes having a good time, multiple resets, not promising fast updates for the last chapters, working through some shit
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-23
Updated: 2017-02-14
Packaged: 2018-05-08 18:10:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 47,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5507744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DollBlood/pseuds/DollBlood
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Universal constants are rare. In every dimension, people are ever so slightly different. Sans knew this better than anyone else.<br/>But he also knew that now that he's met the Hawthornes in one timeline, he didn't want to ever let them go. screw any consequences.<br/>If he was gonna be put through infinite resets, he wanted them to be on his terms, not some malevolent deity's.<br/>-or-<br/>Five times Sans found a family, and the one time the family found him.</p>
<p>(summary updated 2/4/16)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Good Doctors Don't Wear Shoes

Sans didn’t need a therapist. Especially not a human one. But Toriel convinced Papyrus that he needed professional help, and slowly, the rest of his friends agreed. As much as he liked the former queen, he didn’t appreciate her meddling in his life. She caught on to his paranoia about resets, and took it the wrong way. Now she was sitting in a lobby with him, waiting for some human to diagnose him and prescribe him ineffective, expensive drugs. He sighed and stared at his feet. Toriel made him wear sneakers instead of his slippers.

“Sans the Skeleton?” he glanced up and saw the woman that was supposed to psychoanalyze him. She didn’t seem as impressive as other doctors said she was. She wasn’t wearing shoes.

“Are you Mrs. Hawthorne?” Toriel asked and stood. “I am Toriel, I’m the one who noticed Sans’… episodes.” Mrs. Hawthorne gave Sans a look he couldn’t understand, and smiled at Toriel.

“I am sure it was all for his best that you brought him here. I can take it from here.”

“well… I’m just not sure if…”

“Sans, you are fine without your friend here with you, right?” Hawthorne asked. She adjusted her glasses and gave Toriel a sidelong glance. “or do you want her in the office? Whichever will make you more comfortable?”

“You can go, Toriel. I’ll be fine.” Sans muttered and finally stood up from the couch. Toriel stayed for a moment to give him a reassuring pat on the back, and then made her way out of the office. He turned to Hawthorne, and she nodded.

“off to a good start, I see. I’m Doctor Sidney Hawthorne. I hope to be your therapist for the foreseeable future.”

\----

Sans was honestly impressed with how easily Dr. Sidney tolerated long silences. There was no way he was talking, since there was no way anyone could understand how he was feeling, so for the past ten minutes, he stared over her shoulder, and she stared at him. Occasionally, she wrote something down. Mostly, she stared back.

It seemed that twelve minutes and thirty three seconds was her breaking point, as she sighed and put down her clipboard.

“My family is very tolerant of monsters, you know. When they came to the surface, most people didn’t like it. But my husband and I didn’t really care. We’ve dealt with bigger monsters than your kind. You know, the brain things.” She tucked her legs up into her chair, and continued, “Before you all came up to the surface, I worked with convicts. Anything from drug users to murderers who were facing lifetimes in prisons. If they went through me, they usually got a quarter of their sentence taken off. But when you all came up, as you know, a lot of monsters were put under arrest. I wound up being one of the only therapists who would take monster patients. You know what I saw during that time?”

Sans finally looked at her, instead of the child’s drawing on the wall over her shoulder.

“Fear. Every monster patient I was assigned had the same levels of anxiety and similar illnesses as war and abuse survivors. And I wasn’t surprised. humans had been terrible to them. What I haven’t seen, though, is a monster afraid of the very reality he lives in, besides a Whimsun that wandered in here by accident once, bless its soul.” She leaned forward a little bit, “so what makes you different, Sans?”

He looked away from her knowing gaze. She knew he was paranoid, sure, but there was still no way she could understand. She shifted again.

“Anyways, that’s not important.” He watched her from the corner of his eye. “I guess I wouldn’t get it.”

She looked over her clipboard and put it back down, then curled into her chair more.

“Maybe my daughter’s husband would though. He’s smart. He’s a sphinx.” She gave him a look, waiting for his reaction, but he didn’t give one. “She met him after you all came up here. They clicked, it was precious, and within a year they were married and had a baby on the way. I still don’t get how, since he said it was about combining souls or something, and that just goes fwip!” she waved her hand over her head, “straight passed me, but they really care about each other.” She lowered her hand, and gave him a measured look. “Sans, You have a whole lot of people who care about you. They want you to be happy, and this is supposed to help you. I can send you someplace else, if you want, but I can’t promise your happiness anywhere. At least here I won’t pressure you into doing anything but talking. If you feel like you need drugs, I can help. If you need to take your anger out, I’m here. You don’t know me, I don’t know you. Sometimes, I think it’s best to have a neutral party involved.”

Sans looked down and brought his feet into the seat until he was practically mirroring Sidney. He stayed silent for a few more minutes, but eventually sighed.

“Nobody else remembers.” He glanced her way, expecting her to have picked up her clipboard, but she just watched him with rapt attention. “The kid resets, things never really turn out different. This is the first time it’s gone on for so long, though. But I don’t know what’s real anymore. What’s the point; if it’s all gonna start over again and again?”

“Hmm.”

“I’m the only one who remembers the other timelines, so nobody else understands. For them, it’s the first time anything is ever gonna happen.”

“Timelines? Hmm… I actually think I’ve heard about that before.”

Sans looked up quickly, and Sidney smiled.

“String theory. Saw it on Nova once. Infinite timelines and dimensions, occasionally brushing against each other and mixing. Not common, but maybe what you’re saying is true. Maybe we just don’t remember.”

“You know about quantum physics?”

“Don’t look at me like that, I’m not an idiot. I can’t say I can do the difficult math in my head or anything, but sure, I know the basics. I also believe that string theory is related to déjà-vu, where any time you experience it, it’s actually the experiences of another dimension’s – or as you say, timeline’s – version of yourself.”

Sans was speechless. For the first time since he helped Gaster on the machine so long ago, he felt like somebody understood him.

Maybe it was just her being a therapist, but at that point, even his paranoia was a distant thing.

The timeline reset.


	2. The Carousel in the Mall is Probably a Scam

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A few more resets, and then a chance encounter with an outgoing toddler.

The next time, Frisk never made it out of the ruins. He didn’t know what that was about, but it reset before anything ever really started.

After that, Frisk wasn’t all there. They would kill some monsters, but leave others. They seemed to prefer the dogs. They killed the king, though, and left everyone in the dust. The dogs were pretty upset.

The third time, they were just like how they were when everyone broke through the barrier. It was another good run, and Sans felt a little happier than he had in a long time.

\----

This time, it wasn’t seven years until he met Sidney Hawthorne. Though, it was a different circumstance.

He was at a shopping center with Frisk and Papyrus, though they had run off to look at a shop farther down the hall. He wasn’t much of a runner; he would go at his own pace this time.

A very small body suddenly launched itself into his leg, and if it weren’t for its sheer strength, he would have mistaken it for Frisk. But whoever this kid was, they were strong enough to make him nearly topple. When he looked down, there was a bright toothy smile grinning up at him. The girl had a short mop of blonde hair on her head, and her big eyes were light brown. She was missing some teeth.

“Daddy! Daddy! Look, a skeleton!” She called out, and Sans sighed. Humans really needed to-

“Oh dear, oh dear, I’m so sorry, sir, she just hasn’t seen a skeleton before.” A large cat like man with wise eyes was running up to him. He had orange and brown stripped fur along his neck, and curly black hair on his head, where two large cat ears sat and twitched at the noises of the mall around them. His fingers ended in black claws, and he had fangs and a tail, but he also seemed to be close to a nervous wreck as he lifted the girl away from Sans.

Sans glanced between the human (?) child and the sphinx, and he must’ve looked fairly confused, since the sphinx chuckled nervously.

“Her mother is human. If, uh, that’s what you’re wondering. She’s uh…”

“Bryce! Oh, there you are, oh good, you got her.” Sidney Hawthorne emerged from the crowd of people milling about and took the toddler from him. “Anna, you nearly gave old grandma a heart attack! It’s dangerous to run around without an adult!” She suddenly noticed Sans and glanced between him and the Sphinx, Bryce.

“Hi, I guess I stopped the kid.” Sans said. He knew she wouldn’t recognize him, but it still hurt.

“Of course, she does love other monsters… have we met before?”

“No, I don’t think-“

“Right, right, I didn’t introduce myself, but I think I saw you at a lecture on string theory a few months back.” She winked. Sans struggled to keep a neutral expression.

“SANS! WHAT ARE YOU DOING YOU LAZY BONES? OH! YOU MADE FRIENDS?” Papyrus was coming back from whatever store he had been exploring and Frisk sat on his shoulders, gently patting his head.

“Daddy! G-ma! Look! Another skeleton! He’s so big!”

“NYEH-HEH-HEH! YES, I AM BIG, TINY HUMAN, FOR I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS! WHAT IS YOUR NAME?”

“I’m Anna, and I’m not a human!” she puffed her cheeks out angrily, and her face turned red.

“Oh dear, oh dear, Sidney, you should-“ Bryce panicked, and Sidney nodded as she set the toddler down. They all looked on in awe as the previously two and a half foot toddler turned into a four-foot ashen grey monster with dark yellow eyes and long, spindly arms. She grinned, showing off double rows of teeth in a smile that could match Undyne’s. Sans had nothing to say, but clearly Frisk did.

They grunted from their place atop Papyrus’s shoulders, and he set them down gently. Then they approached and signed up at the monster toddler, who turned to Bryce.

Bryce watched Frisk’s hand movements for a moment, then nodded and stepped forward.

“They say their name is Frisk, and they think you’re a really cool monster.”

Anna grinned and huffed happily.

“Yeah, Yeah! Thanks, Frisk! You are cool too, cause you’re friend with skeletons!” she shrank back down to her normal size, and stuck her hand out to Frisk, who took it and shook. “My name is Anna! That’s my daddy, Bryce, and my Grandma, Sidney! She’s a human, but she’s a good human. Like you, huh!”

 

After some back and forth, the kids decided that they wanted to go on the mall’s carousel together, so they moved as a group to the sub-par ride. As the kids (and Papyrus, who dragged the nervous father with him) rode around in slow circles, Sidney stood and watched them with Sans.

“I’ll be blunt with you. I don’t remember you.”

Sans sighed.

“But I didn’t go to a quantum physics lecture a few months ago. I follow my gut, even when it takes me weird places. I guess my daughter got that from me. I know I got it from my mom. I just hope it didn’t carry over to Anna, cause as a hybrid, she’s gonna get into a lot of trouble. I mean, Golems aren’t supposed to change like she does.” She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. “Basically, I recognize you. Form where, I don’t know. Déjà-vu, you know? Overlap in dimensions, or fate, or whatever you want to call it. I don’t know who you are, but when I saw you, I knew exactly two things. String Theory, and fear. I’m not scared, so what are you scared about, Sans?”

He paused, but he remembered what she had said before, about a neutral party, so he gave her the vaguest explanation he could muster. “… I’m afraid this’ll happen again… that you’ll forget our talk, cause I feel like you’re the only one here who can come close to getting it.”

She chuckled and rubbed her head as the ride began to slow to stop. “Oh dear, looks like I went into therapist mode. You don’t need to tell me more if you don’t want to, but here, my office number. If you wanna talk, talk.” She passed him a business card, and he took it gratefully. He stuffed it into his pocket, but reminded himself to memorize the number later.

Anna and Papyrus bounded back to them, with Bryce and Frisk behind them, and Sidney looked at her watch.

“Anna, it’s time to get you and Bryce to your engineering workshop. You don’t want to miss building robots, do you?”

“YOU BUILD ROBOTS, TINY NOT HUMAN?” Papyrus asked “I HAVE A FRIEND WHO BUILDS ROBOTS AS WELL! HAVE YOU HEARD OF METTATON?” Anna gasped and nodded excitedly. “OF COURSE YOU HAVE! HE IS A VERY GOOD FRIEND OF MINE! I KNOW HIS CREATOR!”

“You do?” Bryce asked. His eyes seemed to sparkle when science was brought up. Sans felt like he could be good friends with him.

“How about we give you our numbers? That way you can call and talk robots without being in the way of our schedule?” Sidney asked, fishing around in her bag for a pen and something to write on. She pulled out a notebook and pen and quickly wrote down her phone number, then passed it to Bryce, who jotted down his in the type of chicken scratch only over excited professors use during lectures. Before he could tear out the page, Anna reached up to him.

“You forgot about me! Daddy!” Bryce chuckled and handed her the notebook, and she carefully wrote her name with a backwards “a” and the number “1” next to it. Papyrus ‘nyehed’ when he saw her addition, and they happily waved goodbye to the family.

Realizing that Sidney Hawthorne might be a constant on the surface filled Sans with… well… he wasn’t quite sure if he could name that emotion, but it sure felt alarmingly like happiness.

\----

Coriander Hawthorne was very happy to learn that her daughter and husband had made friends with a couple of monsters at the mall that day. She was even happier to learn that they seemed interested in certain aspects of science, which brought Bryce out of his shell. Apparently her husband hadn’t had many friends, even in the underground, besides a fellow scientist whom he hadn’t heard from in years.

Seeing him come home from his engineering lab with Anna that day, with stars in his eyes and gushing about the charming pair of skeletons he and Anna met at the mall made Coriander determined to set up another play date as soon as she could.

So she came close to smacking him when she found out he hadn’t gotten their phone numbers. She huffed, but settled for a gentle noogie between his ears.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a few chapters written, and I'm actually writing this fairly quickly? that pretty weird for me.  
> next update should be tomorrow or maybe Christmas? who knows.  
> the story doesn't get exciting until Solomon shows up. ;)


	3. Punch the Goddamned Sun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fights are a great way to meet new people, right?

A few weeks later, and Papyrus had made a play date with Frisk and Anna. Toriel had been surprised to learn about the strange family they had run into, but was happy to let Frisk have a get together with their new friend. Sans wasn’t able to visit, though, since his work changed his hours suddenly.

He was on his way home, enjoying the crisp summer air for once. He knew Papyrus wouldn’t be home, so he was taking his time. A breeze shifted by and whistled through his bones. It wasn’t unpleasant, but it did leave him shivering slightly, despite it being warm. He looked up into the dark sky and sighed. He might never get over the stars, at least. No matter how many resets, the ones that showed him the real sky would still be there as reminders that left his bones with a soft tingling feeling.

He was so enraptured with watching the stars of Cassiopeia, that he didn’t notice the sound of pattering feet running towards him. Small, thin hands grabbed his sleeve and tugged. He jolted and looked forward to see what looked like a human with bright red hair and yellow skin tugging at him frantically.

“What?” He asked, and they looked behind them with worry. They didn’t have a right arm, and they looked malnourished, with their skinny waist and hollow cheeks. They looked back at him with wide eyes and tugged again.

“Please… Help us.”

That was all it took for him to dash of with the person. He wasn’t sure if they were human, as their neck was especially long and thin, and they hadn’t blinked once. If it was someone in trouble though, Sans would help however he could.

They came to a park where a group of people were crowded around four figures. One was much taller than the other three and clearly trying to protect the others.

“We didn’t do anything to you! Go away!” the tall one certainly seemed masculine, if his voice was a clue.

“your little friends have done plenty, just by existing. They’re freaks, don’t you know? They’re better off in a zoo!” one of the crowd members said with a laugh, and they closed in more. The man, who Sans could assume was protecting monsters growled and punched a man so hard he flew backwards into another one and sent them both into the ground. For a moment, Sans considered how impressed Undyne would be.

“Those freaks!” He yelled, throwing out another punch, “Are! My!” he kicked out and slammed into another bigot with each word. “Children!” Sans’s eyes widened at the last word, as another came up behind the man and threw him aside. The monster who brought him tugged in his sleeve and he growled.

With a flick of his wrist, half of the attackers were in the air and flying across the park in a high arc. The man had regained his footing and was rushing back to the three figures on the ground before the other half could close in on them. He didn’t even seem to notice Sans, but the attackers did. They turned and glared at him, and a few broke off to approach him.

“What do you want?” one asked, but before he could get any closer, Sans had him wrapped in magic and he was hurtled backwards, and was slammed into the last punching victim.

“I want people like you to g o t o H e l l.” Sans growled, and forced them all into the sky. The man fighting a few feet away stumbled when his fist met nothing but air, looked surprised to see his attackers floating above his head. He turned to Sans with wide eyes, then rushed to his kids. Sans slammed them into the ground a few yards away, and went to the man’s side.

“Rafae, are you okay? Cade? Dempsey? Where’s Fedir?”

“I’m here, Solomon, I brought help.” The monster next to him said. The man, Solomon, looked up at Sans and gave him a bright smile, but the look was ruined by the blood dripping down his forehead and a black eye forming.

“Thank you so much, sir, I owe you so much. If anything happened to my kids, I… I…” he had started to stand, but stumbled and fell forwards onto Sans, who caught him awkwardly.

“Buddy?” Sans asked, but Solomon didn’t respond. Sans turned him over and checked to make sure he was breathing – he was, but it was ragged. “looks like he passed out. I would check for a concussion, but I’m not bright enough to have a flash light on me at all times.” When they didn’t react to his joke attempt, he continued, “Where’s your guy’s home?”

One of the monsters walked over to him, and leaned down to look at Solomon. All four of the monsters were a few inches taller than him, but they still looked like children. The one checking on Solomon had a mop of bright blue hair that covered their face except for their mouth, which was stretched into a tight smile. They looked up after a moment to talk with Sans.

“We are going to our aunts house tonight. She is having a party of sorts. Her husband can heal Solomon. It isn’t too far.”

The other two figures didn’t seem to want to come any closer. Sans couldn’t properly see them in the shadows, but they were shifting anxiously. He turned to them and tried to give them a reassuring smile.

“Your dad is gonna be fine, you wanna help me get him on my back so I can carry him better?” they looked at each other, then one shrugged and walked up to get Solomon on his back. The kid had two huge fangs like a saber tooth cat, but they were so long that it seemed like he couldn’t close his mouth. He had bright green hair that covered his eyes and orange skin. The other one slowly made their way out of the shadows when the green haired one turned and waved for them, and Sans could see that they had purple hair and dark black skin. Their hair was straight and once again covering their eyes, and they appeared to not have a mouth.

“Alright, show me where your aunts house is.” The one who brought him and the blue haired one lead the way, while the other two brought up the rear.

“My name is Cade.” Declared the blue one. They were wearing a long fluffy sweater, but he could’ve sworn that their skin was neon pink, from the slight glimpses he got. “Fedir is this one,” he gestured to the red and yellow one, “ and behind you is Rafae and Dempsey. Rafae has the teeth, Dempsey is the dark one.”

“Nice to meet you, kids. Is this ray of sunshine really your dad?” Sans asked as he shifted Solomon on his back. The man’s golden yellow fluff of hair was tickling his skull.

“No,” said Fedir, “we chose him. He’s the best human.”

“Really? Cause I’ve met some pretty great humans in the last couple of weeks.”

“He is the best human. He has done nothing but care for us.”

“Say, I’ve never seen monsters like you before. What species are you?” Sans asked. He hadn’t even realized they had all stopped walking until he looked up and neither Cade nor Fedir were in front of him. He turned around, and they were staring at him in an oddly familiar way. For a moment, he recalled an ancient book he had once checked out of the library down in Snowdin. The kids looked alarmingly like a picture that had caught his eye.

“Sans the skeleton,” he took a startled step back when Cade spoke. He hadn’t told them his name. “D҉o̴͢͡ yo̢̕ų̴ ͡ẃ͠a͏̵̡nt̡͜ ͡tò̢ ̶̕͟h̴͘͝ȩar̷̕͠ ̷͡a̶̷͝ ̵͢s͢͞t̀̀͘o̧r̷̡͡y̕?̧͡”

Sans started to sweat, but before he could fully process anything, the four of them were back to normal, and Cade’s tight smile wasn’t quite as sharp. They started walking again, and the others followed. Dempsey nudged him forward, and he continued walking, albeit shakily.

\----

Their Aunt’s house was a large two story with a pond out front. The lights from inside were warm and welcoming, and Sans could hear laughter coming from within. He was not ready to be the bearer of bad news.

Cade knocked on the door and there was a crashing sound from inside, followed by more laughter.

The door opened and a chubby woman was looking behind her, still talking to someone inside.

“That’s a very good point, sweetie, but you’ve gotta consider…” she trailed off when she looked down at Sans. She was maybe half a foot taller than him, but he was also crouched down to carry Solomon.

“Solomon! Oh, no, not again! Oh dear, come in, kids, come in… Skeletor.” The woman said hurriedly. Sans chuckled and let the woman lead him into her house. “He does this at least once a month, I tell him the kids can take care of themselves, but he always goes and puts himself between them and danger. Here, let me take him, you must be tired from carrying him all the way here!”

“Bone tired.” He said, and she chuckled while lifting Solomon off his back with ease. She wandered away, but shouted over her shoulder that he was welcome to make himself at home.

“We have some guests over, so what’s one more person?”

He followed her a ways into the house, up until he got into the living room. He froze when the guests looked his way.

“SANS? WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you all so much for the kudos and stuff! ahh! the Undertale fandom is one of the nicest communities I've written for!!


	4. Sugar Glaze

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An evening of baking at Coriander's house.

A beat passed over the room in silence as Anna, Frisk, and Papyrus stared at him from over the couch. He tried to get his bearings straight, but realizing that the odd man he had saved was yet another Hawthorne sent him into a fit of laughter.

Papyrus joined in awkwardly at first, but when Sans sat down and was laughing so hard he was barely making any sound at all, Frisk and Anna joined in, and they all wound up being laughing messes on the floor. When the woman from earlier came back in, she smiled widely.

“MRS. CORIANDER!” Papyrus screeched from his place next to the couch, “I DID NOT KNOW YOU HAD INVITED MY BROTHER! HOW DID YOU KNOW THAT HE SECRETLY WANTED TO SPEND MORE TIME WITH ME, THE GREAT PAPYRUS?”

Sans was about to respond with how he always wanted to spend time with him, but the woman beat him to the punch.

“Well, doesn’t everyone want to spend time with you? I highly doubt that would stop at brothers, no matter how thick skulled they are.” She glanced at Sans and gave him a wink, and his smile softened.

Damn. The Hawthornes certainly were something different.

Papyrus blushed and nyehed extra loudly before coughing and returning his attention to Frisk and Anna. Maybe he didn’t notice the pun, or he didn’t mind them when they were coming from her. Sans was going to have to ask her how she did it.

For now, though, he would deal with his main concern. He shuffled over to Coriander while she lovingly watched the three play with building blocks. In that moment, she looked a lot like Toriel; her long blonde hair even kind of resembled her ears.

“Hey, the name’s Sans. Is Solomon…” He started, but found his words were stuck in his throat.

“He’s ok. Bryce is working on him right now. The kids won’t let him go that easily.” She shook her head and looked down the hall she had carried him not long ago.

“speaking of… what are those kids? I never saw anything like them in the underground.”

Coriander looked back to her own child, while rubbing her stomach. She was quiet for a moment – long enough to make Sans start to sweat – until she let out a huff and turned to go into another room.

“Let’s talk in the kitchen. I’ve got stuff in the oven.” She chuckled to herself, as if that was another joke, but Sans didn’t get it.

After she checked the timer on her stove and put a mixing bowl in the sink to be washed later, Coriander leaned against the counter and Sans sat in one of the tall chairs at the island bar in the middle of the kitchen.

“Those kids aren’t monsters. At least… not in the usual sense. I have no idea who or what they are, or where they came from.” Before Sans could so much as open his mouth, she caught him off guard. “Cause they were never living in the underground. They came to Solomon five years ago.”

Sans’s train of thought stopped completely then doubled over on itself. This timeline, monsters had only been on the surface for four years. If what Coriander said was true, then…

“Coriander,” He started.

“Just call me Corie, please.”

“… Corie. Are you implying that there might be monsters who have lived on the surface all these years?”

“If that’s what you think I’m implying, then sure. All I know is that those quadruplets haven’t left Solomon’s side for five years, ever since our grandmother died. They saved him from his grief over her death, so I have nothing but kindness for them. So do our parents. Bryce doesn’t mind them, so I don’t have anything against them.”

Sans thought for a moment, then looked back at her. She was looking off into the distance while rubbing her stomach again.

“When you answered the door, you said the kids could take care of themselves. You said it like you knew from experience. What did you mean?”

Her dreamy look was replaced with a grimace and she looked down. The timer beeped and she busied herself with taking a tray of pastries out of the oven, and putting a glaze of melted butter on top of them. They smelled like different types of fruit and cinnamon.

“Corie.”

She flinched.

“I have another baby on the way, you know. Being a human but having kids with a monster is kind cool, cause there’s more surprise in it. I have no idea what powers they’re gonna have, if any at all. There are so many possibilities. Will it be another scientist type like Bryce? Will it look like a human at all? Will it have two forms like Anna?”

“What did you mean, Corie?”

“A-and… what color will its soul be? I didn’t know that mine was baby blue until I met Bryce. Anna’s is the prettiest shade of spring green I have ever seen.”

“Coriander.”

She let out a shaky sigh and slouched.

“It really is the prettiest green… nicer than Rafae’s hair, even.” She gave a weak smile as she leaned back against the counter again. “Especially nicer than the time their hair was crusted over with blood.”

Sans’s eye sockets widened, but he waited for her to continue.

“This…” She took a few glances out the door to the living room, where Papyrus was now lifting both Anna and Frisk above his head, one child in each hand. “Isn’t easy for me to talk about. Not even Solomon knows.”

She started stacking the pastries onto a plate and sprinkled a dusting of sugar over them.

“I’m not sure if I want to talk about it with you, actually. I just met you.”

“A wise woman once told me that sometimes a neutral party is best to talk to.” He said it before he really thought about it, and it wasn’t until afterwards that he realized that he just quoted an alternate timeline’s version of Coriander’s mother. He could’ve slapped himself.

She just laughed quietly. “That sounds like something my mom would say. Shes one of those criminal and monster therapists.” She took a shaky breath in, and before she could say anything else, Bryce was in the doorway, looking at her worriedly.

“Corie? Are you okay? Is… is he…” Bryce sent a sidelong glance to Sans, and he felt his own sins dripping down his back, slowly, like molasses.

“No, sweetie, it’s fine, just these goddamned hormones. Sans was helping with the sugar glaze and him helping me out just got me overwhelmed. Do you want one?” she picked up one of the pastries, and Bryce’s eyes lit up. He happily took the one that was offered to him and ate it in three bites. After he finished it, he hugged Corie and nuzzled her cheek.

“Delicious, just like always. You are magnificent.” He purred, and Corie laughed.

“Why don’t you show Sans to Solomon? He was worried about him earlier. Do you still want to check on my brother, Sans?”

“Yeah, the guy kinda wiggled his way into my bonely heart. I'm sure he’s feline fine now, though.”

“SANS! DON’T THINK YOU CAN GET AWAY WITH PUNS JUST BECAUSE I AM IN THE OTHER ROOM! STOP IT THIS ONCE!” Papyrus shouted from the living room.

“Sorry, Pap, I’d be lion if I said I regretted it.”

“SANS! THAT IS INAPPROPRIATE BEHAVIOR TO HAVE IN FRONT OF OUR HOSTS! APOLOGIZE!”

“Sorry, Corie. Sorry, Purryce.”

“SANS!”

Coriander burst out laughing, and Bryce’s shoulders were shaking in silent laughter. He looked down at him with kinder eyes, and Sans recognized the ancient knowledge in his look. It reminded him of Gaster.

“Come on. I’ll show you to Solomon.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would have gotten this up sooner but I forgot that my family was going rock climbing all day.  
> Those quadruplets are something else


	5. The Puns are Back in Action

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A closer look at those quadruplets. Weird bodies ahead.

Sans followed the sphinx down the hall to a bedroom with a queen sized bed and a dresser.

“Solomon doesn’t live with us, but he has his own room for times like these. You’d be surprised how often the kids have to drag him back here, bloodied and passed out.”

Solomon lay on the bed with two kids on either side of him. His bright blonde hair was around his head like a curly halo, and his bruises were already letting up. When Sans and Bryce approached, Dempsey sat up and rubbed at their face. They had tails, Sans realized. Two thin, black tails emerged from their lower back and ended in devilish points. They wore a long black skirt that matched their skin, and a white blouse. The only color on their being was their dark purple hair.

Sans was shocked when they spoke.

“Thank you, Sans.”

“no problem, kid.” He said after a moment. Dempsey didn’t reply, they just sat and stared in their general direction. Bryce coughed and said something about passing out pastries.

When Bryce was gone, Sans made his way over to the side of the bed and looked at each kid carefully. Dempsey only watched him.

Fedir really appeared malnourished, but now seeing the family they were a part of, he doubted if that was the real case. Perhaps that was just the way they looked. They were asleep; he could tell from their breathing, but when they tossed and turned his way, their eyes were wide open, staring at nothing.

“do their eyes ever close?” he asked.

“Do you want to hear a story?” Dempsey replied. It was less of a question and more of a statement that seemed to fit with his question, though he had no idea how. He decided to ignore it and look at Rafae instead.

He could have sworn Rafae was a boy, but Corie had used They while referring to them earlier. He wasn’t one to be quick to judge others, but the kid looked incredibly masculine, with their strong jaw and large nose. Although, all of the kids had flat chests, so maybe whatever creatures they were, didn’t have set sexes.

The kid shifted, and something caught Sans’ eye. The hair that was normally in front of their face had lifted a bit, and he could see Rafae’s eyes. Just like Fedir, there was something off about their eyes.

They didn’t have any. There was just a smooth, blank slate of orange skin where eyes and eye sockets should have been.

Rafae snored and their tongue lolled out of their un-closeable mouth. Sans sent Dempsey a look and something under their white blouse shifted in a way a torso should not.

“do you want to hear a story?”

“yeah yeah, you kids and your stories. I’m gonna see what’s behind the curtain of hair on Cade.” Dempsey didn’t stop him.

Besides the Blue hair and pink skin, Cade seemed to be the most normal looking out of the four. They had an unsettling smile on all the time, but if he said it wasn’t right, Sans would be a bit of a hypocrite. The normalcy stopped when he gently brushed their hair out of their face, and showed that they had no nose, and instead their entire face was covered with eyes. Eyes in no discernible pattern were all closed and twitching in their REM sleep. Before he could voice his surprise, Dempsey spoke up again.

“Will you hear a story?”

That one was new, kind of. He looked up, and saw that they were holding the hair out of their face, so that he could see the two dark holes where eyes should have been. Their eyes had been gouged out, and it looked fresh. Their tender flesh on the inside of their skull was black and a deep maroon. He didn’t notice them lifting their blouse up to their chest until their torso moved again. His gaze flicked down to the gaping mouth that made up most of their waist. It moved slowly to form its words.

“Will you hear our story?”

“What are you?”

Dempsey seemed ready to say something else, but their torso fell shut when Solomon moved and groaned. He opened his eyes slowly, immediately looking at Rafae, and smiling softly.

“Good boy.” He whispered, then looked around and saw Sans.

“Oh, didn’t see you there. Thanks for helping out, Sans.”

“How’d you know my name?” He asked as he pulled a chair up next to the bed. Solomon sat up slowly, as to not wake the other three kids. Dempsey crawled into his lap and he ran his hands through their hair.

“The kids told me. I also heard Bryce mumble something about you when he was working his magic.” He smiled. Without his face being beaten, the smile radiated warmth. It hit him so hard that Sans wondered if Solomon could actually use magic.

“Y-your family sure is something else, huh?” Sans said. The smile had caught him more off guard than he realized. “I’d say you all are more like roses than thorns.”

Solomon looked confused for a moment, then suddenly laughed loudly. He and Coriander had the same laugh.

“Oh, you mean…” he said breathlessly, “cause Hawthorne…” he wheezed, “hoo, wow Sans, never heard that one before.”

“Uncle Solomon!” the door flew open and Anna ran into the room, arms open wide as if she expected a hug.

“Anna Banana!” Solomon cried, sitting up and making room on the bed for her, even though she just stood next to Sans. “Look at you! Are you bigger since the last time I saw you?”

“You just saw me two days ago, uncle!”

“And look at how much you’ve grown!”

Anna giggled, but stopped after a second and crossed her arms over her chest.

“Mom says you got beat up again.”

“Uh-oh…”

“You said you wouldn’t get hurt anymore.”

“I’m sorry, Anna, but there were some bad guys and-” Anna held up her hand and Solomon stopped talking. She gave him a very disappointed look.

“I know you have a very hard job as a super hero, but it’s no good if you get hurt!” Sans had to hold back a very unpleasant snort of laughter.

“You tell him, Anna. I think you’re better at scolding him than I am. I’m gonna go talk with your mom.” Anna beamed up at him, then sent another disapproving glare to Solomon. He made a whining noise and Sans snickered.

\----

Back in the kitchen, Corie, Bryce, Papyrus, and Frisk were gathered at the island bar with pastries. Frisk excited waved Sans over to sit next to them, and he happily complied.

The kid had crumbs stuck to their face, and Sans helpfully laughed at them.

“Did you eat, or just smoosh your treat into your face?” Frisk giggled and wiped their face on a napkin, then wiped their hands off so they could sign.

**‘Corie made berry turnovers! They’re amazing!’**

“Is that so? Would you say they’re…”

“SANS, DON’T YOU DARE!”

“Berry good?”

“I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU!” Papyrus stormed out of the room for a moment, and Corie had to hold onto the counter to keep steady from how hard she laughed. Sans wasn’t sure if she was laughing at the pun or at Papyrus’s reaction, but either way, it warmed his heart.

He was glad that the Hawthornes were such a happy bunch, and were fine with sharing that with other people.

While Bryce was patting Corie’s back to try to help her breathing again, Sans took one of the turnovers and nibbled at it. Once he reached the filling inside though, it seemed like time stopped.

Slowly, he put the dessert down and gave Corie a serious look.

“Coriander, I’m sorry,” she looked at him in confusion, “But I’m gonna have to _turn_ you _over_ to the police for making these pastries. I think the government has some pretty tight policies on things that are _out of this world.”_

“Oh you,” she waved him off, but grinned to herself as she took another and bit into it.

“BROTHER, WHILE I DO NOT ENJOY THE PUNS YOU MADE, I MUST AGREE WITH YOU! MRS. CORIANDER’S COOKING IS NEARLY AS GOOD AS TORIEL’S PIES! IT DOES NOT, OF COURSE, COME CLOSE TO MY SPAGHETTI!”

“Well, maybe you should teach me sometime?” Corie asked, and Papyrus looked awestruck.

“I- YES! I WILL BE HAPPY TO TEACH YOU MY SPAGHETTI WAYS! I AM THE BEST TEACHER!”

\----

Before they left, Corie and Bryce had made sure that they had a Tupperware of the turnovers to take home and share with their friends. Corie seemed to want them to share with Toriel especially, after Papyrus had mentioned her pies. Sans had a feeling there was going to be a bake off in the foreseeable future.

Anna had dragged Solomon and Dempsey out of bed before they left, though he wasn’t sure if it was for them to say bye, or to get food. Either way, Solomon hugged each of them goodbye (which made Papyrus ecstatic) and Dempsey shoved a few pastries into their torso.

Walking back with Papyrus and Frisk that warm summer night, Sans felt at the top of the world. A breeze whistled through his and Pap’s bones, making Frisk giggle, and a dog barked somewhere in the distance.

After dropping Frisk off at Tori’s, the brothers made their way home in comfortable silence, only broken by Papyrus telling Sans about his day.

After a bedtime story for Pap, Sans settled in for bed. It was too warm for lots of blankets, so his comforter was bunched up at the end of the bed, and just his sheets were pulled all the way up to the pillows. For once in a long time, he felt tired enough to fall asleep for a whole night. _Maybe_ , he hoped, _he wouldn’t have any nightmares_.

It was a long shot, but it didn’t make his smile falter.

He shuffled down, curled up, and drifted off into a semi-pleasant sleep.

\----

He woke at around four in the morning from a nightmare he couldn’t remember, and his breath caught in his throat. Looking around, he saw the familiar clutter of his room. The treadmill in the corner was covered in clothes, his sock collection was still in the middle of his room, and he could hear Papyrus snoring away in the next room over. His comforter was pulled all the way up the bed, though.

He breathed deeply, trying to calm down, and slowly looked out his window.

Snow was falling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I originally intended this story to just be Sans complaining about timelines to Sidney... It got a bit away from me, I guess.  
> this and the next chapter are a bit longer than normal, and I think chapter seven will be too, I'm not quite done with that one yet.  
> Until next time!


	6. That God of Chaos was a Jerk Anyways

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sans does research.

It took a while for Sans to calm down from the realization of yet another reset. He wondered why Frisk did it this time, since they had seemed so happy. There wasn’t any logic to it, but then again, there rarely was logic to the resets.

After calming down, he got up and went down to the kitchen. It was 4:40, and Papyrus would be up by five. There was one day until Frisk left the ruins, so he had one day to do more research.

In previous timelines, he had looked for ways to stop the resets, or to fix the machine. But this time, he was looking for something different. Questions about the quadruplets were still swirling around his head, and he wanted to find the book he had come across so long ago.

He got himself a bottle of ketchup from the fridge and sat on the couch. When Papyrus came out of his room, he hesitated when he saw Sans.

“BROTHER! YOU ARE AWAKE? ARE YOU OKAY? THIS IS NOT LIKE YOUR LAZY BONES SELF!” He said as he came down the stairs.

“Heh, I’m fine, Paps. Just woke up early for some reason. I was thinkin’ of going to the library today.” Even as he said that, he sunk lower into the couch cusions.

“WHAT DO YOU NEED TO DO AT THE LIBRARY? ARE YOU RESEARCHING THE BEST HUMAN TRAPPING TECHNIQUES?” He asked as he sat down next to him with a plate of cold spaghetti.

“Yup, that’s it, Pap. You’re so smart.”

“BUT BROTHER, YOU DON’T NEED TO READ BOOKS TO FIND THE BEST TRAPS, FOR YOU HAVE ME! I HAVE ALL THE BEST TRAPS, AND I CAN SHARE MY KNOWLEDGE WITH YOU!”

“That’s nice of you, Pap, but I wouldn’t want to waste your time. You’ve got a lot of training to do with Undyne, right? I couldn’t keep you from that. How about you show me things tomorrow?”

“NYEH-HEH! ALRIGHTY, BROTHER! I WILL LET YOU DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH, BUT ONLY BECAUSE I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, BELIEVES IN HAVING AN OPEN MIND! PERHAPS SEEING OTHER MASTER PUZZLERS WILL HELP YOU IN THE FIELD!”

“That’s right, Pap. Now, isn’t Undyne expecting you? She doesn’t like you to be late, does she?”

“OH! YES, I HAVE TO RUN ALL THE WAY TO HER HOUSE! SHE SAYS TIMING IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF BECOMING A GUARD! Well… THAT AND GREAT PASTA MAKING SKILLS!”

With that, Papyrus was on his feet, and out the door. He must have taken his breakfast pasta with him, since he hadn’t left it on the couch, or stopped by the kitchen on his way out. Sans chuckled and sat for a few more minutes before he got up and went to the library.

\----

The Library, as most libraries are, was quiet. The receptionist nodded at him, and the ladies who worked on the paper waved as he went to the farthest corner of the building. Most books there were monster anatomy books, but there were a few history lessons and personal essays thrown in there as well. The book Sans was looking for was none of those.

He found what he was looking for when his finger bones felt the old leather binding of a small journal. He pulled it off the shelf carefully and sat against the wall to look through it.

In the previous timeline where he found it the first time, Sans had been looking for new bedtime stories for Papyrus. He had thought the book was a fairy tale, but quickly found it was a mythos instead.

These stories were too dark for his Paps. He had just flipped through it quickly, looking at drawings of grotesque beasts and carnage, before putting it back and finding a story about an estranged monster who learns how to fit in.

Now, he took the time to look at the short tales that could hold the answers to his questions.

The first story was a tale about vengeful things called angels – faceless, horned creatures of immense power and wisdom. They lived in another dimension, called the astral plane, but could traverse between worlds with a power people called ‘miracles’. It was clear that the book was from before the war, since it talked about these angels ‘smiting’ humans and monsters alike. Sans tried not to look at the pictures provided.

The second story told of an ancient city whose inhabitants angered some sort of deity, and was promptly destroyed by the creature. Once again, it referenced that the deity was from another dimension, though this creature was stuck on earth after being ostracized from their home. Sans was about ready to feel sorry for it, until it explained that it had been thrown out of its home dimension for committing a tantrum-induced genocide on its own race. The few survivors had scrounged up as much magic as they could manage and force the other deity out.

It was the third story that gave him what he was looking for.

**_Chapter 3 – The Anomaly Keeper_ **

_There is something out there that is far older than our Earth, our sun, even the blackness in our sky. It lurks in the shadows of the astral plane, and cuts rifts between there and here with ease. It is more powerful than Angels, and even less stable than the raging god of chaos._

_It is the Anomaly Keeper._

_This shambling creature is the picture of grotesquery, though it never looks the same. Its form is unstable, and shifts like the tides. It may even shift in front of your very eyes. Sometimes it has huge, unblinking eyes, other times none at all. It rarely has all of its limbs attached._

_Since the beginning of time, it has shuffled between worlds, looking for a way to cease the shifting of its form, but there is no cure. One single body cannot fathom the knowledge and power from every single dimension. The Anomaly Keeper is the whole of reality’s own personal encyclopedia. It is here only to give information, but as more centuries go by, the more information the Keeper must take in. the more information it takes, the more unstable its body grows._

_There may be a day where the Keeper’s physical form ceases to exist, and it instead becomes a single ethereal thought that will spread across every dimension, but for now, the Anomaly Keeper continues its journey across planes and rifts, asking any soul that listens:_

_“Do you want to hear a story?”_

Sans sucked in a breath and turned the page to a picture – the original picture that had briefly caught his eye. It looked like a shambling man in a tattered robe, with no eyes. He had stumps for arms, and his legs were unnaturally long. He seemed to be walking out of a gap, but it looked like a tear going through nothing but air. His head was tilted so much it was basically resting on his shoulder, and his mouth was open, liked he was in the middle of saying something. Below the picture, it had a caption that read:

_The Anomaly Keeper can open a rift to any place or time. If there is a living creature on the other side of its rift, it will greet it by saying “Do you want to hear a story?” The Keeper cannot, however, easily recognize what life has cognizant thought. It has been seen asking its question to plant life, and wild animals._

Sans stared at the book in his hands without really seeing it. The book said the Anomaly Keeper was one single being, but the quadruplets basically greeted him with that question. Dempsey had been particularly fond of the phrase. The kids seemed stable in their forms, though. If the original Keeper had found a way to stabilize its body…

Sans checked the book out and rushed home.

In the safety of the lab, Sans began writing down equations. He had no idea what kind of power the original Keeper held, but to make it actually constantly change forms, it must have been unbearable. The only things he knew with unstable bodies like that would be Alphys’s Amalgamations, though their power level couldn’t come close to the power of multiple – no, all – realities. He could use them as a starting point, though.

Each monster in an Amalgamation is stable on its own, but inside the Amalgamate, it becomes unstable. The more monsters in an Amalgamate, the less stable, i.e. the dogs versus the snow drake and vegetoids. There were maybe seven dogs in the dogamate, but the snow drake and two vegetoids were just that. The Snow Drake could speak, at least.

If an unstable being of immense power could somehow balance its power between multiple bodies, then it could, theoretically, stabilize.

But that gave rise to many questions as well.

If The Anomaly Keeper was really as powerful as the mythos said it was, would four vessels be enough to contain its power? If the kids really were the Keeper, spread across four bodies, why would they live with Solomon Hawthorne? (Sans answered his own question with his own draw towards the Hawthornes.) But the biggest question he had, was:

Why would Solomon fight so hard to protect the kids, when together, they had the power of every single reality? Did he even know what they were?

\----

Sans went through all the motions for that run, but his heart wasn’t really in it. To be fair, though, his heart hadn’t been in the motions for a while now.

Frisk had seemed kind of angry the whole run, but refused to kill anything, so Sans was relieved. It just meant he’d get to the surface sooner. He briefly wondered if this run would end with Frisk going to the surface on their own, killing Asgore so they could leave the rest of them behind, but he quickly shoved that train of thought away. Sometimes those runs were even harder than the ones where all his friends die. Physical death can be handled better than the mass death of hope for the whole of a people.

Frisk once again saved him from that thought, though, when they broke the barrier – he’s never figured out what exactly happens there, it was something with plants.

When he finally stepped outside the barrier again, he took a long breath in, and smiled at Frisk. They were having their moment with Toriel, like always, but they shot him a glance this time, and they smiled wider when he waved at them as he left to make sure Pap didn’t hurt himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my chapters just keep getting longer... takes more time to write... might do updates every other day...


	7. Undyne Has Fun at the Human Gym

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She also brings home a friend.

The first three months were always the hardest to deal with. Humans were so set in their ways that the emergence of monsters was ground breaking for them, and most reacted with anger or fear. The ones who were afraid could be dealt with, with calm words and reasoning, but anger wasn’t so easily quelled.

Bigotry would always be there, but the worst of it always reached its peak during the third month.

Pro-monster humans would be having their peace protests in the streets, and more and more of them would be attacked. Sometimes they would be hurt even in their own homes. Weaker monsters would have to walk around with stronger counter parts to stay safe outside, and monsters were forced to stay in ‘monster-only’ neighborhoods, consisting of strip-mall apartments with just enough room for a small family and a few belongings.

It was always after a certain protest that things start to die down. A peaceful protest in Chicago, where many monsters were moved to the slums. Many of the humans already living in the slums there could relate to the monster’s situation and supported their fight for their rights. Sans and the rest of the gang lived two states north of Chicago, in the one that was split in two. It was closest to Mt. Ebott, which was a bit in the middle of nowhere. In the future, there would be debates if monsters were U.S citizens if Mt. Ebott was across the border, but for now they had to deal with poor living conditions.

The peaceful protest that changes the world for monsters is always attacked by a group of anti-monster terrorists, leaving hundreds dead and thousands hurt. A news report calls it worse than something called nine-eleven, and it’s as if eyes are opened across the world. Bigots remain, but something about being compared to that event turned them away from the actual act of intending harm.

Six months later, and monsters have proper rights. It was, apparently, the fastest court decision in decades.

* * *

 

Another month had gone by, it was September by now, and Sans was lounging on the couch in his and Pap’s house. After they were given proper rights, monsters were free to move onto better housing. Once their gold was accepted as currency, it wasn’t too hard for any monster to get a nice, comfortable house. He and Papyrus were in a two story house that they rented from a nice older couple. There were three similar houses that were also rented out to people and monsters across them. The older couple called it an apartment complex of good tastes. The three were connected by a large stretch of grassy yard and a walk way, though Sans never really talked to their neighbors.

He slumped farther into the cushion and turned on the T.V. Papyrus was playing in his room, either with his action figures, or talking to people online. He made a lot of friends on the computer. Sans still liked to pester him anonymously through his social media, but Paps got so much more attention that Sans’s puns could get buried in his inbox and it would take days for him to find them.

The peace of the moment was lost when their front door was kicked in violently and Undyne burst into their house.

“Papyrus! You gotta see this human I found at the gym!” she shouted, and as he bolted out of his room to see the excitement, Sans turned around and looked over the back of the couch. Undyne was smiling as she held a human over her shoulder. All he could see was their legs and back as they sighed.

Undyne put them down when Papyrus was in the room, and Sans’s smile widened. Solomon Hawthorne looked around and smiled at Papyrus sweetly.

“YES, UNDYNE, THIS IS A VERY HANDSOME HUMAN, BUT WHY HAVE YOU BROUGHT HIM HERE?” Papyrus said. Solomon flushed at the compliment and looked anywhere but Papyrus for a moment.

“Look what he can do!” she turned to Solomon and made some wild gestures. He rolled his eyes, but smiled and laid down on the floor and held his arms up. “He can bench 200 pounds of pure muscle, like me! Look!” Undyne laid in Solomon’s hands, so that he was holding her legs and upper body in each hand, and then began bench pressing her. He made it look easy.

“WOWIE! I’VE NEVER SEEN A HUMAN THAT STRONG, EXCEPT IN YOUR ANIMES!”

Solomon laughed and turned Undyne in his hands, so she was on her side. She rested her head in her hand as she looked up at Papyrus. The whole scene looked pretty bizarre, and Sans couldn’t help but laugh a little.

“Right? And Alphys tried to tell me anime wasn’t real. This’ll show her!”

“Hey,” Solomon spoke up, “I love working out and all, but I gotta tell my kids that I might be late coming home. They’ll worry.”

Papyrus ‘awed’ loudly and Solomon chuckled.

“Okay, if you say so. I’ll show you my true power.” He slowly shifted his hands so one was placed on Undyne’s lower back. He was suddenly lifting Undyne with only one hand and typing on his phone with the other. Undyne and Papyrus both screeched in excitement. Solomon held his phone to his ear and waited while he continued to lift the fish woman. Papyrus seemed to not be able to sit still.

“Cade? Hi sweetie, I’m calling to say I might be a little late. I had to show off to a few monsters.” He listened to the phone for a few minutes and Sans got off the couch to wander over to them. Solomon shot him a smile and nod when he came into view. “I shouldn’t be too long, but by the looks of it I may have to bench press a skeleton.” Solomon said, and Papyrus shrieked slightly.

“You okay, bro?” Sans asked, shoving his hands into his pockets as he sidled up next to his brother.

“Yes! I am just excited! I did not know that humans could be so strong!”

“Heh, yeah, it’s pretty surprising, huh?”

“Wait, Rafae what? What happened?” Solomon suddenly dropped Undyne and sat up. She yelped and shot a glare to him, but her glare softened when she saw the worried look on his face. He began chewing on his fingernails. “Is everyone alright… Okay. I’ll be right over.”

He stood up and dusted himself off, giving them an apologetic smile.

“Sorry, my kids got in some trouble on the way home from school. I need to help them and make sure they aren’t hurt.”

Sans stepped forward, “Do you need a ride?”

“Oh, I don’t want to be a bother…” His face betrayed his words. He was nervous beyond compare.

“I insist. It’s the least I could do after you gave us front row tickets to your gun show.” Sans gave him a relaxed smile, and Solomon breathed a sigh of relief, though his ears had turned a bit red from blush.

“… Okay. Thank you.” He turned to Undyne and Papyrus. “Undyne, I hope I see you at the gym next time. You’re a very good encourager.”

“Yeah! I’ll look forward to it! You just make sure your kids are alright, kay?” He nodded, waved to them, and made his way out of the house. Sans grabbed his keys and went out after him.

“I’m sure they’re fine, strength in numbers, right?” Sans said, trying to reassure Solomon.

“Yeah, but they aren’t… well, normal. Fedir doesn’t have an arm, Rafae has… these teeth… a lot of other kids make fun of them. Cade can usually take care of them, but this time…” Solomon rubbed his hands together anxiously as Sans drove. “my house is on Cedar street… do you know where that is?”

“hmm… I think so. South west part of town?”

“yeah, Thanks Sans.”

He nearly swerved, and started to sweat.

“S-sorry? I didn’t exactly tell you my name...?” he stuttered out after his grip on the steering wheel loosened.

“Oh! No, I’m sorry, that must be creepy, having some stranger call you by name… I’m Solomon, by the way. No, yeah, Undyne was talking about you and your brother. She called the tall one Papyrus, so I assumed you were Sans.”

Sans sighed and relaxed, then chuckled.

“Oh, okay. Yeah, my brother’s pretty cool.”

“He has a very nice smile! I love making people like him laugh!” Solomon laughed- the laugh he shared with his sister. Sans’ smile grew wider.

There was a few comfortable moments of silence, broken only when Solomon had to direct Sans in the correct direction. He stopped in front of a small house surrounded by huge trees. The trees went on farther behind the house, as did many of the other houses on the street, so there must’ve been a forest that the neighborhood was backed up to. The little house was old and well lived in, and had a number of wooden sculptures in the front.

“It’s not much, but it was my grandmother’s. She died about two years ago.” Solomon said as he unbuckled his seat belt. “Thank you for taking me home, Sans.”

“Well, hey, it was nothing.” Solomon got out of the car, and so did Sans. When Solomon noticed, he froze, and his eyes darted around nervously.

“Wh-what are you doing?”

Sans shrugged, “Well you care so much about these kids, I kinda want to meet them. Let them know that if they have any trouble, they can get this old bag of bo- Woah!”

Solomon cut him off when he easily picked Sans up and held him up high. The sweet look in his eye that Sans had gotten so used to was gone, and replaced with rage.

“Those are my kids. You can’t take them away from me, they want to be with me.” He hissed.

“H-hey, buddy, I don’t wanna take them. I just wanna meet the little twerps, see if they’re okay. I did drive all the way out here, for them, didn’t I?”

Solomon blinked a few times, and slowly set him back down. He started to look nervous and apologetic.

“S-sorry, I just panicked… my kids are… well… they’re really important to me. I don’t want anything to happen to them.”

“That’s what any good parent wants, right? For their kids to be safe? Relax, buddy, I won’t hurt them.”

“Okay. But you… you can’t freak out. They’re… weird.”

“Relax, let’s go check on them.”

Solomon smiled, but he still looked nervous as he walked Sans up to the house. One of the sculptures in the yard looked suspiciously like a Moldsmal.

When Solomon led him into the house, Fedir greeted them. They were passing through the hall, towards a small kitchen, and they barely gave them a second glance.

“Hello, Solomon, Hello Sans.”

“Hi honey, is Rafae alright?”

They gave him a long look and kept walking.

“Heh, don’t mind her, she isn’t much for talking. Or facial expressions.”

“She?”

“Oh, Fedir uses female pronouns sometimes, even if she doesn’t look much like a girl. All my kids use they, though, it’d probably be safer to use that if you don’t know them well yet.”

“Alright, they it is. So how’d Fedir know my name? You tell them I was coming?”

“No, they just know these things.”

“Pretty smart kids, huh?”

Solomon didn’t respond, and instead just continued to lead Sans down the hall. They passed a bedroom, and Sans saw Dempsey in bed, possibly sleeping. They didn’t have eyes, so he couldn’t quite tell.

“Rafae’s my boy.” Solomon whispered as he stopped in front of a door. “None of them have genders, but I always thought of Rafae as my boy. He’s so sweet, but nobody gives him the time of day. They’ve had so many bullies… They don’t deserve how they’ve been treated.”

“Nobody deserves to be bullied.”

“Yeah…” Solomon opened the door, and there was Cade, sitting on the end of the bed, blocking the view for Sans. Solomon rushed to the side of the bed, with a sharp breath, and Sans made his way over more slowly. Cade watched him, and he felt the gravity of each eye the kid had, even when they were hidden by thick blue hair. Sans almost laughed. Undyne was wrong; the most anime thing about Solomon wasn’t his strength, it was his color-coded kids. Cade’s smile got bigger, somehow, when he saw Rafae. If Sans had blood, it would have rushed out of his face at the sight of the kid in bed.

Their large, open mouth was pulled into a deep frown. Cade was still watching Sans, their smile still growing bigger.

Both of the big saber teeth Rafae had were halfway broken off. Their hair was drenched in blood. Sans got the feeling that Cade had placed themselves just so they could watch Sans’s face when he started to sweat.

Cade got up, and as they passed Sans, they leaned in and whispered,

“That look on you is just as good the second time around.”

Yeah, the Hawthornes sure were _something_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to be in Palm Springs for new years, so I probably won't be able to update. My parents don't let me bring my computer on trips.  
> I drew Fedir and Cade, and maybe I'll get around to posting the draws on my tumblr (qu33nbeee) or my twitter (Babydoll_guro) idk, who knows.


	8. Mettaton Gets a Crush

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An evening out at a nice cafe. everything is fine. (no it's not)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Songs used in this chapter are here:  
> https://youtu.be/Yk8jV7r6VMk  
> https://youtu.be/cEfbUEYWOY8  
> Solomon's voice is actually a mix between Brendon Urie and Tyler Joseph sooo... I couldn't help myself

Rafae’s teeth would grow back. It wasn’t the first time this had happened, apparently. But they refused to explain the blood in their hair. Cade didn’t help either, as they just giggled and continued to stare unnervingly at Sans.

“They like you,” Solomon had said. But if that was true, Sans couldn’t help but wonder what would happen if Cade didn’t like him. He glanced at the blood in Rafae’s hair and he figured he had his answer.

Fedir had wandered into the room with a glass of water and helped Rafae drink. It was a difficult process, since Rafae still couldn’t close their mouth. The moment consisted of Fedir holding Rafae’s head back and forcing water down their throat. They didn’t seem to like it at all.

“Rafae doesn’t eat or drink much.” Solomon explained, “It doesn’t agree with his body very much. He only does it when he gets sick or hurt, since recovery takes a lot of his energy.”

As Fedir left the room, they stopped by Sans and looked down at him with the frown that seemed to always be on their face. “Don’t you have a brother to be with, Sans?”

“Ah, shit, what time is it? I gotta read Paps his bed time story. Hey, Solomon, it was nice to meet you, but I really gotta go.”

Solomon nodded. “Thank you for staying as long as you did. It helped.”

He wandered back down the hall, and was about to reach the door when something gave a soft tug to his sleeve. He looked behind him to see Dempsey holding onto his jacket.

“Do you still want to hear our story?”

He turned all the way around so he could properly look at them.

“Are you the Anomaly Keeper?”

Their grip tensed for a moment, but relaxed when they spoke. “We have gone by many names. Anomaly Keeper may have been one of them.”

“Do you really have the power of every timeline?”

“Do you still want to hear our story?”

“Heh, you don’t give up, do you kid? I’ll have to sit down with you and be able to listen for a day. But right now won’t work.”

Dempsey nodded and backed away.

“You’re weird, Sans.”

Sans chuckled at that.

“You’re telling me.” Sans chuckled and walked out the door.

* * *

 

A few weeks later, and Sans had not spoken to Solomon again. Undyne talked to him whenever they met up at the gym, though, and apparently he asked about the skeleton brothers quite a lot. He saw them as friends, even though they only had one awkward encounter. It made Papyrus happy, though, and Sans didn’t mind making quick friends with him. The first meeting with him wasn’t the best, so he was glad he could have this do-over.

“Solomon is in a band thing,” Undyne mentioned off hand one day while she and Alphys were hanging out with them. “They always play at this café downtown every few weeks, and he invited us to drop by with friends.”

“I DID NOT KNOW THE STRONG HUMAN PERFORMED! SANS, HE IS LIKE YOU!” Papyrus said as he left the kitchen with last night’s attempt at spaghetti. He set it on the table and Undyne immediately dug into it, giving him a thumbs up. Papyrus beamed, then turned to Sans. “WE SHOULD GO, BROTHER! AND WE SHOULD BRING THE SMALL HUMAN AND THEIR PARENTS!” Asgore and Toriel were not together, but Frisk refused to let Toriel kick the king out. They seemed pretty set on getting the two together again. Frisk was the whole reason they were able to talk without Tori blowing a fuse.

“Yeah, that sounds great, bro. when is it, Undyne?”

“This Saturday. It’s at this little place called the Nook”

“Nice. We’ll see you there, right, Paps?”

“YES! THIS WILL BE GREAT!”

“M-maybe I can g-get M-M-Mettaton to come along!” Alphys stammered, and Papyrus seemed about ready to start glowing.

* * *

 

Saturday rolled around, and everyone seemed excited to go see Solomon. Sans was surprised that even Frisk, Toriel, and Asgore were pumped up, since they hadn’t met him yet. Alphys had gone to the gym with Undyne one day and met him, so her excitement was expected. The only one who wasn’t all that happy was Mettaton, who had been dragged away from a movie debut.

They all met up outside the café, which was actually a bit below ground. They had to walk down a small set of stairs to reach the door. Inside, it was warm and smoky. The smell of coffee filled the air, and the flooring was a dark wood that creaked under their feet. Mettaton, in his rectangular body but with his robotic legs angrily mumbled something to himself.

Above the general chatter of patrons, they could hear music and someone singing.

“ _And never did I think that I, would be caught in the way you got me. But girls like girls and boys!”_

They turned the corner and saw Solomon on a stage with three musicians playing behind him. Solomon was on a portion of the stage that jutted out into the audience slightly, and was hunched over a microphone as he sang his heart out. They stood in the doorway as they watched him, Undyne pointing out that, yes, that was the guy they were here to see. Toriel looked at him in awe, and Frisk clapped along to the beat. One quick glance at Mettaton showed his screen buzzing with static.

_“I am just a villain vying attention from a girl, a girl who can’t decide, and here’s the reason why! Girls love girls and boys!”_

As he sang, dancing around the stage, Solomon saw them and smiled and waved to them. Frisk and Papyrus enthusiastically waved back. They all shuffled towards a booth in a corner where they all had a good look at the stage, but before she and Undyne could sit down, Mettaton pulled Alphys aside.

“Alphys, darling, please tell me you brought my travel charger!”

“What? Wh-why? I always b-bring it with me when y-y-you come out with me!”

“Alphys, I need you to flip my switch!” Mettaton cried, grabbing Alphys’s shoulders and shaking her slightly. “You didn’t tell me we were meeting someone so talented, I need to look my absolute best!”

The song ended, and Solomon talked to the others in his group, before jumping off the stage and making his way over to their booth. Mettaton noticed, and shook Alphys a little harder.

“Alphys, I’m begging you!”

“O-o-okay, M-Mettaton, just st-stop shaking m-me!” He let go of her and she flipped the switch on his back, causing him to change. She had done more work on his body in the last months, so it changed faster, and also didn’t take as much power. He still drained it quickly, though, so she kept a charger with her when he was with her.

By the time Solomon had arrived, Mettaton was in his newer body, sitting next to Papyrus, and looking very smug. One of the band members was making an impressive show of beat-boxing and playing the flute at the same time.

“I’m so glad you could make it, Undyne! Hi, Alphys!” He waved to the rest of the group and pulled up a chair. “Undyne talked about you all a lot, I’m sure, but I do not know all of you, so I suppose introductions are in order.” He smiled brightly and Mettaton leaned forward. Sans watched, bemused. Solomon stuck his hand out towards Frisk. “Hi, I’m Solomon Hawthorne, and you are?”

Frisk seemed delighted that he spoke to them first. Most adults seemed to disregard them at first and talked over them. They shook his hand and signed, ***I’m Frisk! Toriel is my goat-mom!***

Toriel was about to translate, but everyone was surprised when Solomon replied, “Goat-mom? So you’re a _kid_?”

Sans and Toriel snickered, Frisk’s smile grew exponentially, and Papyrus shrieked.

“I’m Toriel, the goat-mom.” Toriel said after her giggles had died down. “You are a great singer, Solomon.”

“Oh, it’s just a hobby, you know?”

“You are very talented, though. I’m Asgore, by the way.” The king stuck his large paw out, and Solomon shook it vigorously.

“Nice to meet you, sir. It’s always good to know that floral print shirts are still in style, though I’m a bit more partial to plaid, myself. Asgore chuckled, slightly shaking the table as he did so.

“Solomon! Sweetheart, you just _have_ to go on tour with me!” Mettaton cried, reaching for the human. He couldn’t quite reach normally, so his metal arm lengthened and wrapped around Solomon’s shoulders. He tensed up slightly and stared wide-eyed at the robot.

“Sorry? I don’t follow.”

“Oh, come on! You’re a star! The world needs to know about your gorgeous face!”

“Mettaton, right? Alphys mentioned you. Look, I’m flattered.” Mettaton nodded and looked expectant. Sans figured he knew where this was going, and settled down in his seat to watch the show. “I really am. But I’ve got four kids. I can’t drop everything and tour. Singing isn’t even my job, it’s a hobby.”

“I can hire a babysitter! Get your boss to give you a month off! Baby, your voice is beautiful, you just _have_ to come with me to… Japan…” Mettaton trailed off as Fedir seemed to materialize behind Solomon, drinking a Shirley Temple slowly through a straw. She stared at Mettaton with her unblinking gaze, and he slowly shrunk back. Solomon saw her and smiled, pulling her into his lap.

“Everyone, this is one of my kids, Fedir. Where’s the others, kid?”

They continued to drink, staring at Mettaton until he looked incredibly uncomfortable, then let go of the straw with a _pop_ and turned to Sans. They had two round piercings on the bridge of their nose, between their eyebrows.

“They’re at the bar with Aster. Hello Sans.”

He gave a wave and grinned. “Heya kiddo. How’s Rafae?”

“They’re fine.”

“Oh yeah, Rafae recovered a week ago.” Solomon said, “Sorry for making you worry.”

“No problem. I’m impressed they healed so quick. It looked pretty bad.”

“Well, it’s not the first time that’s happened. He’s used to it, unfortunately.”

“What happened?” Toriel asked. Her motherly instinct was showing.

“My sibling got into a fight to protect us.” Fedir said. “He broke some teeth.”

“Oh, how terrible! What horrible creatures would hurt children?”

“We are a weird so we get picked on. It’s just how things are.” Fedir went back to sipping on their drink and stared at Mettaton when he tried to run his fingers through Solomon’s hair. Solomon didn’t notice the robot's advances, and laughed.

“Hey, hate to cut this short, but I gotta get back up there. This was in unofficial break on my part.” He put Fedir down and stood. Fedir wandered to the right of the café, where a drink bar was. A man with short blond hair and white, wavy horns stood behind the counter, laughing with another woman.

“Of course, Solomon. Don’t let us stand in the way of your fun night!” Toriel said, and waved to him. He climbed back onto the stage, forgoing the couple of stairs, and spoke with the drummer.

“Hey, I’m gonna order something.” Sans said as he stood. “Anyone else want something?”

“ASK IF THEY HAVE SPAGHETTI!” Papyrus said.

***Hot chocolate!*** Frisk signed, and Sans chuckled.

“Don’t you think it’s a little warm for cocoa, boss?”

Their face scrunched up with determination and they signed more vigorously, ***Hot chocolate!***

“Alright, alright. I got it. Anything else?”

Toriel asked him to get a menu and the others decided to wait till they had an actual menu to look at.

The chatter was louder near the bar, but he could still hear Solomon sing.

_“I-I-I’ve got a migraine, and my pain will range from up down and sideways.”_

He found the quadruplets at the end of the bar, talking to themselves. They looked up as he approached.

“Hey kids, you see a menu around here?”

Rafae grabbed a paper from behind the counter and handed it to him. It had a list of drinks on it, and the other side had sandwiches, salads, and deserts. He tucked it under his arm and smiled.

“Nice to see you’re better, Rafae.”

“You should see the other guy. Cade destroyed him.” Rafae’s speech was surprisingly unhindered by their teeth and large tongue that often hung out.

“Yeah, I bet he had a bad time. Siblings protect each other, right? How long is the guy in the hospital?”

“He’s not.” Cade said casually as they reached over the counter and took a cherry out of a jar. “I destroyed him. He no longer exists.” They popped the cherry into their mouth, showing a second row of teeth behind the ones in front. The second row was sharp and jagged like a shark’s.

“Heh, kid, you can’t just make someone not exist.”

“Oh yeah?” Cade’s smile grew sharper as they looked his way. “Then how do you explain Gaster?”

“How do you know him?” Sans looked to the side and fidgeted nervously.

"The real question is, Sans," Cade started to look malicious. “How can you?”

“A-alright, kids. I’m gonna get some drinks.”

“Get a Bloody Mary, Sans.” Dempsey said as they spun in their bar stool. “You like tomatoes, right?” they were wearing a medical mask, probably to hide the fact their mouth wasn’t on their face.

“Sure kid. I’ll try it.”

Sans looked over the menu, making sure that hot cocoa was on it, and then tapped on the bar to get the man behind the bar to come over.

“Hello sweetie, how can I help you?”

“Sans wants the special today.” Cade said quickly.

Glancing at the chalkboard behind the counter, Sans realized the special was a kiss from the bartender, instead of food. he wondered, for a moment, how something like that could wind up on the specials board, but quickly decided to take back what the kid said when he saw the hungry smile darken the bartender's face.

“Kid, that’s the last thing I want. No, I’ll just have a Bloody Mary and a hot cocoa.”

“sure thing, babe. You want whipped cream on that cocoa?” the man gave him a wink as he started a machine behind the counter.

“Defiantly.”

“And a garnish of cinnamon? Nutmeg?”

“Both would be great.”

The man hummed as the machine heated up, and he opened a can of tomato juice. He was swaying to the beat of Solomon’s singing.

_“Am I the only one I know…? Waging my wars behind my face and above my throat... Shadows will scream that I’m alone, but I know we’ve made it this far… kid.”_

He didn’t notice the person talking to the kids until it was too late.

“Let go of me!” Sans suddenly turned when he turned and there was a woman tugging on Dempsey’s tails.

“What the hell are you supposed to be?” the woman sneered. “Freak.” She smelled faintly like booze, but was steady on her feet, so she couldn’t blame all of the behavior on being drunk. She ripped the medical mask off of Dempsey’s face and gasped. She took a step back, but kept her grip on their tails, so they fell out of their chair. It caused a bit of a clang, but nobody seemed to notice.

Nobody except…

_“And I will say that we should take a moment and hold it and-_ HEY!” the music cut out suddenly, and Solomon was jumping off the stage, rushing towards the bar.

The bartender cursed and moved things farther down the bar. The kids sat and watched Solomon as if he were entertainment.

He barreled past people and grabbed the woman who had been terrorizing Dempsey. She had let go of their tails to rub at her sore back from her fall, but now she was using it to grab at the hand around her neck. Sans had never seen him so mad.

“What do you think you’re doing? That’s my kid!”

She looked up at Solomon, wide-eyed, but didn’t respond. Sans assumed she couldn’t. The hand on her neck looked pretty tight.

“That’s my kid! WHAT WERE YOU DOING TO MY KID?” He screamed, shaking the woman. Her face was turning red.

“Hey, buddy, I think that’s enough. You’ve scared her enough, she’s pissed herself.” Sans said calmly. He noticed the kids weren’t doing anything to stop the situation. Fedir had their back turned, sipping on her Shirley Temple, Cade was adding more cherries to the drink, watching with a grin. Rafae scratched at one of his teeth then pulled his hands away as if he were looking at his fingers. Dempsey was watching Solomon shake the woman with rapt attention, swinging their feet back and forth. They seemed unhurt, so why weren’t they stopping him?

“GET AWAY FROM MY KIDS!” Solomon turned to him without letting go of the woman, and pushed Sans away violently. He stumbled back and his head hit the side of the bar. The barkeeper swore and jumped over the bar so that he was crouching in front of him. Dots speckled his vision as the horned man leaned in and felt around the back of his head. Behind the man, Sans could see Solomon begin beating the woman. The ray of sunshine was no longer there. His kids sat and watched with smiles.

“Honey you need to stay awake.” The man was saying, but it sounded distorted. “Solomon hits hard, but he usually doesn’t have the intent behind him. You’ll be okay, just stay with me. The owner knows some healing magic.”

Sans wasn’t sure what the man was talking about, but he did know that his head hurt and that his vision was swimming. Surely if he closed his eyes, it would at least make him less dizzy? He leaned his head back, and the man swore like a sailor.

“Chey! I’m gonna need a goddamned stretcher down here! Someone call the fucking ambulance for this girl! くそ!”

Sans didn’t remember anything after that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (くそ is basically "fuck" in Japanese)  
> Palm springs is full of sadness and broken dreams. I do not recommend going there. I live in the middle of a desert and i thought it was desolate. Hope you enjoyed this anyways!  
> here's some draws i did of the kids on my twitter :3c  
> https://twitter.com/babydoll_guro?lang=en


	9. Singing helps

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Solomon has some explaining to do. Sans's head hurts.

The soft ticking of an analogue clock brought Sans out of a deep sleep he didn’t remember falling into. He opened his eyes to a relaxing beige wall. Next to the bed he was in, a woman with long grey hair and a single horn coming from the center of her forehead dozed. He groaned from a pain at the back of his head, and she jumped awake.

“What… Oh! You’re awake. Your friends are worried sick. Do you think you can see them?”

“I…” oh wow, his throat was dry. _Bone dry._ He chuckled and coughed. “After some water, yeah.”

The woman seemed to be a step ahead of him, since she already had one ready on the bedside table. She handed it to him and watched him drink it.

“Where am I?” This wasn’t a hospital; it was far too cozy.

“I’m the owner of the Nook and Nook Spaces Inn right above it. This is one of the rooms for the Inn. My name is Chey. I’ll get your friends.” She stood up and moved towards a door.

“Wait, what happened?”

She stopped, then turned slightly. She was frowning.

“Please do not blame Solomon for what he did. It’s been months since his last episode. He’s done such a good job, and all he wanted was to protect his kids. He’s a good guy.”

Sans frowned in confusion. “I know that. What happened?”

“He beat a girl half to death tonight.” Chey whispered. Sans’s eyes widened. “If Aster hadn’t been there…” She shook her head and looked back to him. “You got in the way and Solomon pushed you away. You hit you head.” She left quickly, and a moment later, the room was filled with familiar faces.

“BROTHER! YOU’RE OKAY!” Papyrus all but screamed as he raced into the room and lifted him out of bed in a tight hug. The sudden movement made him a little dizzy.

“Be careful, Papyrus, he did suffer a head injury. He is healed, but he can still suffer side effects.” Chey said as she stuck her head in the room just to scold his brother. Papyrus set him down after a moment, but stayed close.

 ***Are you really okay, Sans?*** Frisk signed once they had crawled up onto the bed. He nodded.

“Don’t worry, boss, I’m thick skulled.” He knocked lightly on his head to prove his point, ignoring the way it made his vision swim a little. They smiled and held his hand.

They all talked for a while, discussing what had happened at the café, but eventually getting into lighter topics. As it turned out, Frisk had been the savior yet again, since as soon as they realized something was wrong, they had gotten up and ran to the trouble. They had jumped onto Solomon’s back and patted his cheeks until he calmed down. Sans was impressed, but couldn’t say he was surprised.

Eventually, though, Chey returned and shooed his friends away.

“I want to make sure he’s okay tonight. Sleep can be iffy with head injuries.” She had told them, “If everything goes well, I’ll let him come home tomorrow morning.”

Papyrus was going to spend the night with Frisk, and Toriel promised to read him a bed time story.

When everyone was gone, Chey checked the back of his head and reported that everything looked fine. She asked if anything hurt, and nothing did. She got him tea.

“Thank you, for everything, Chey.” Sans said as she settled down in her chair next to his bed. He sipped his tea. It tasted like lavender and honey.

“Don’t worry about it. Just be glad I’m not a teenager anymore. I would be far more unpleasant.”

“Wouldn’t we all?” Sans chuckled and set the mug down. He was settling down for a nap when he heard hushed voices in the hall.

“He doesn’t want to see me, don’t make me!”

“You don’t know that, you are going to explain yourself!”

“No, no, please, he’s gonna hate me, please don’t…”

Chey stood up and opened the door, revealing Solomon and the barkeeper from earlier. They looked very similar, side by side, though Solomon was the taller one if they didn’t count the barkeep’s horns. What was his name? A…

“Aster, please.” Solomon sent one last pleading look towards the man, who pushed him into the room. Chey stepped around him quickly, and shut the door behind her. There was a _thunk_ , and Sans assumed she locked it. Sans watched Solomon fidget by the door until a few minutes passed and he had yet to say anything.

“I don’t bite, you know. Come over here.”

Solomon looked at him, guarded, but slowly came to sit in Chey’s chair.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

“Okay.”

“What? That’s it?” Solomon looked shocked.

“Look, kid, you may hit hard, but if you meant anything by it, I would know. I would be dust if you had actually intended to do me harm. Clearly, I’m still alive and punching.” Solomon winced, and Sans gave a dry laugh. “Sorry, that was in bad taste. But seriously, you’re alright, kid. I know you. And whatever that was last night? That wasn’t really you.”

Solomon sighed, though he didn’t look relieved.

“I’ve got this condition…” he muttered. “It makes my mood unstable. I can’t control myself when I get like that. That’s why…”

“Hey, you don’t have to talk about it, Solomon.” Sans reached over and patted his shoulder. “Not if you don’t want to. Certainly not if you feel like you have to. We’ve got a whole lifetime to tell each other our bare-boned secrets.”

Solomon looked at him like he had grown a second head, and it was telling him he had won the lottery. Tears welled up in his eyes, and he reached forward. Sans awkwardly accepted the hug, and Solomon cried into his shoulder.

“y-your… the first…” he hiccuped a few times, “Nob-b-body had ever…” three deep breaths later, and he looked up at Sans from where he had slid down, basically leaning on Sans’ lap. “I’ve never had a friend who actually stayed with me after learning about my condition, much less let me take my time with explaining it… Thank you, Sans.”

“Those people before were jerks. Everyone had bad days.”

Solomon snuffled unattractively and wiped his eyes and nose on his sleeve. When he looked at Sans again, he was smiling.

“Buddy, you don’t have to fake for me. I’m not gonna turn you away if you cry more. You can let it all out.” Solomon watched him a moment, gauging his expression, then teared up again and burring his head in Sans’s thigh bone. He ran his phalanges through Solomon’s thick hair slowly. There was more of it than he originally thought. It went on for days. He was so enraptured with the locks of golden hair that he almost missed the muttering.

“What was that, kid?”

“Huh?” Solomon looked up, then realization crossed his face. “O-oh… I… sing when I need to calm down. Sorry.”

“Sorry? Buddy, I’m not mad. You can sing if you want, but I doubt you’d do anything at that volume. Come on, let it out.”

Solomon flushed bright red and mumbled under his breath.

“Can’t hear you.”

“ _Sometimes you gotta bleed to know, that your alive and have a soul. But it takes someone to come around to show you how, she’s the tear in my heart, I’m alive…”_

Sans grinned wider as Solomon wiggled in his seat to his song. He thought the song was familiar, like he had heard it on the radio once a while back, but he couldn’t place it.

 _“-But my taste in music if your face!”_ Solomon sang louder, pointing to Sans and waggling his eyebrows. The look had him falling backwards in laughter. He continued to sing a bit, and then his face softened suddenly, and he took Sans’s hand, giving him a loving look.

 _“You fell asleep in my, car I drove the whole time, but that’s okay, ill just avoid the holes so you sleep fine. I’m driving here I sit, cursing my government, for not using my taxes to fill holes with more cement!”_ The bright smile that broke across his face when Sans laughed at the lyrics brought the song to a stop, but neither of them minded. Solomon laughed along with Sans until the door opened and Aster peeked his head in. he looked surprised, and then relieved when he saw them laughing together.

“Hey Solomon, hate to break up this love-fest going on, but your kids are starting to be a couple more handfuls than we can handle.”

“O-oh, sorry, I’ll take them home.”

“Hey, hold on, we’re having a good time up here and you’re making the kids stay down stairs? That’s not fair.” Sans butted in. “You know, I actually had some questions. Why don’t you just bring them up here?”

“O-oh, okay then. As long as you don’t mind us barging in. I’d say I wouldn’t want to be in your hair but…” he pointedly looked at Sans’s skull, making him chuckle.

“It’s fine. I like the kiddos.”

“Wait, really?” Solomon looked genuinely surprised, then ran a hand through his hair. “Huh.” His surprise turned into a disbelieving smile as he looked past Sans. “I guess they consider you as good as family, then.”

Sans blushed, but laughed it off.

“Just get those kids, you big sunflower.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> School started again today, so i may be paying more attention to stuff for my senior year than this, but I will try to stay regular with updates.  
> I apologize my Sans isn't very punny... hmm...


	10. Flowers Don't Get Chills

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some long-needed platonic loving. (the best kind of loving)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 666 hits, nice, guys. thats the kind of stuff that get you more content >:3c

Solomon returned with the quadruplets in record time, and Rafae and Dempsey almost immediately climbed onto the bed with Sans.

“Hey kiddos, you guys making trouble?”

Cade and Fedir replied at the same time, with the same levels of sarcasm, saying, “Always,” and “Never,” respectively.

When everyone was settled, Sans looked at them all with concern.

“I’m sure you’re all wondering why I gathered us here today.”

Solomon chuckled, but didn’t say anything.

“Well, I must be frank with you. Solomon, your kids are a cool group o’ dogs.” He waited for a moment, “But I’ve also got a lot of questions.”

Solomon sighed, and the kids looked expectant, almost… excited?

“Solomon, where the hell did you find these guys? Do you know what they are?”

“I thought you said I didn’t have to explain everything right now?” Solomon muttered in the smallest voice Sans heard come from him. It nearly broke his heart.

“You’re right.” He put up his hands in surrender, but a glance to the kids showed they were looking a bit upset. He would ask about it later. “How about this? You say the music business is just a hobby, what do you do for a living?”

Solomon smiled again.

“Now there’s something I’m happy to talk about!”

* * *

 

Away from Sans and Solomon, a certain little flower finally found his way out of the underground. It had taken a long time, as his roots had never reached beyond the Barrier, but after months of working away, he was free. Being on flat ground once again gave him free range, and he could stretch out for miles. He smiled wickedly and burrowed down, only resurfacing when he found himself in a yard full of dying flowers. A woman was digging in the flower bed nearby, but looked up suddenly when he popped up.

“Well, look at you! What is a handsome flower like you doing here? It’s getting cold!”

“Howdy, Human!” she chuckled when he showed off his teeth, “I’m Flowey! Flowey the flower!”

“You sure are!” she said with a smile, and it confused him. He was doing his best to be menacing to her, yet she just smiled softly and continued digging up flower bulbs. “I’m flattered you came to visit my garden, but unfortunately, everything’s dying. It gets cold quick up here, and my poor irises can’t take it.”

“I don’t care! Why aren’t you afraid of me?”

The woman laughed loudly at that.

“Oh, I’m too old to be afraid of little flower monsters popping into my yard! I’ve lived long enough to not be bothered by this!” she shuffled closer to him, and he slunk back. “Would you like to come inside? I’ve got a pot you can sit in if it’ll be more comfortable.” She stood and wandered away to a shed, and returned a moment later with a large ceramic flower pot filled with rich dark soil. But he had already escaped to hide behind a grove of trees off of her property. He watched as she looked around, sighed, and set the pot on her back porch.

“If you want to visit, I’ll leave this here for you.” She called out to the yard, and he wondered just what humans were made of.

* * *

 

It took him all of about four hours for him to return. The upper world was busy and more dangerous than he had expected. Nobody even spared him a second glance and when he found the highway? He shivered at the thought of it. The weird old lady was the only one who gave him her time of day, and he didn’t know where Frisk was, so he decided to go back. The sun was setting, and he wouldn’t admit it, but the woman’s words about the cold scared him a little.

He popped up next to the porch and tried to look into the house. The lady was inside, sitting in a big chair, like Toriel’s. It looked like she was knitting. Flowey leaned away from the glass of the door when a big man walked by, holding two mugs. He gave one to the woman, who stopped knitting and took the mug, smiling up at the big bald man. He smiled back, and kissed her forehead, then walked into another room.

Flowey was about ready to leave, when a window opened to his right, and the bald man leaned out of it. The open window brought forth a sweet, warm smell. Something was baking. The man took a big breath in, then, as he let it out, he looked down and saw Flowey staring up at him.

“Well, hey little guy, what’re you doing out here?” he asked, and smiled.

Flowey didn’t really know how to respond. “Y-you’re bald and wrinkly!” he shouted, and frowned. That was probably rude, although he couldn’t bring himself to care.

The man just laughed. He had a loud laugh, like it came from the pit of his belly. It reminded him of Asgore.

“Yes, I guess I am. I suppose being bald was cooler when I was young, and thought tattoos were a good life decision. Nothin’ I can do to change it now, though. I’m old.”

“W-well!” Flowey huffed, and found he couldn’t respond to the man. All of his usual threats were going to just bounce off of him. He and the lady just laughed at what he said. _Why did they laugh?_ “W-w-well…” He looked down. There wasn’t anything he could do to them. Nobody else on the surface noticed him, Frisk was nowhere to be found, and this old couple kept laughing at him. He wasn’t scary anymore. At least in the underground he had power. At least he knew what to do there. Now he was alone. The sun was setting.

“Hey now, little flower, why so down?” The man had come outside while he was wallowing in self-loathing. Now people could sneak up on him. Great.

“I…” He sniffed, and the man gave him a sad, but knowing look.

“Speak no more, little flower. I know what’ll cheer you up! I have just the thing.” He started to dig at the dirt around Flowey’s stem, making him look up in surprise.

“What are you doing? W-what are you going to do to me?”

“hush now, little guy, I just wanna get you into this here pot, so I can bring you inside. It’s gonna get cold when the sun sets, after all. Don’t want you catchin’ something.”

Flowey stared at the man and curled his roots up as much as they would go, to make his job easier. He could’ve got into the pot by himself, probably, but… there was something about being helped that made him stop, and just watch. The man pulled him free and gently set him in the ceramic pot the woman had brought out before. It was pretty, with a dark blue design of triangles going around the rim and base. It was also big, so he didn’t feel cramped. The man lifted the pot with some difficulty, but brought it inside either way. The woman looked up when he put it down with a grunt.

“Neil? What are you… Oh, I didn’t realize we had a guest. Hello again, Flowey.”

“Hi…” he muttered, looking down. He didn’t want to meet their eyes.

“You make yourself at home, okay, Flowey? If you need anything, just ask.” The woman said. Neil patted the rim of the pot and wandered back into the room that smelled like baking. The woman sat down and picked up her knitting again, though she gave him a pointed look over her glasses. She wasn’t as wrinkly as Neil, but they smiled equally as easily. She gave him a grin when he finally looked up, and she started working her knitting with more vigor.

“Really. Anything you need, Flowey. Just ask my husband Neil or me. You can call me Sidney.”

He looked down again and a small smile found its way onto his face. This one wasn’t malicious or mean. He felt… he felt. This was new. The surface was scary, but maybe it wasn’t all bad. He looked up with a little less hesitance.

“Could I get some water? This soil is kinda dry.”

“Of course, Flowey. Just hold on a moment.” Sidney stood up and left the room, them came back with a tall glass of water.

“Now I’ve never fed a flower with a mouth before, do you still drink through soil?” Her smile was a little embarrassed.

“Yeah, just pour it on the soil.” He grumbled and turned away. Feeling things was getting old pretty quick.


	11. In Which Solomon Hides in the Back of the House and Looks into the Void, Probably

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I don't know what you're talking about. its still halloween. its ALWAYS halloween.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was going to post this tomorrow, but seeing as how im getting my wisdom teeth pulled out of my head and i'll be high on pain meds all day, it'll be best to post now. I'm a little worried about what I add to chapter 12 during that time. It's starting in on the deep shiz, and who knows what'll happen when drugs are involved.

Sans’s return home was filled with hugs from Frisk and Papyrus, and a new pie from Toriel. He, Solomon, and the kids had talked for a long time, from Solomon’s job as a carver and designer, to favorite foods. Despite already knowing who he was, Dempsey had found his love of ketchup hilarious.

But he was home now, and he didn’t have to worry about powerful beings getting tickled by the thought of drinking raw ketchup. He could relax again, and be the lazy bones his brother grudgingly loved. All was well.

Undyne still talked to Solomon at the gym. His friends had forgiven him quickly, after Sans explained what Solomon had called Borderline Personality Disorder. Toriel had, of course, wanted to mother him, and it took Undyne calling him and having him tell her himself that he already had a mother who was quite good at mothering him to get her to stop. He told her that he appreciated the offer with a laugh, though. He had to assure her that he and his kids would love to try some of her pie at some point to get her to finally hang up. Had it been any other human, Sans would have worried that he would have been annoyed by Toriel. But after hearing his stories about his grandmother, Sans was sure that Solomon could handle just about anyone with a grain of salt. Anyone who wasn’t a direct threat to his kids, of course.

Things were good, and for once, the timeline didn’t reset.

Instead, a few weeks later, they were all invited to a party.

* * *

 

Solomon’s family, apparently, were avid fans of Halloween. Corie was decorating their mother’s house into a haunted house, which was what they were invited to help out with. Solomon had invited Undyne and Alphys, who in turn invited the rest of them, so here they were, October 27th, standing in front of a quant house in the far-east area of the town that seemed to be rotting out of its foundations somehow.

Corie stepped out of the house, smiling to the group fondly.

“You must be Solomon’s friends! He just will not stop talking about you all, I’m so glad you could make it! Thanks for helping us!”

“No problem, human!” Undyne grinned, “This house is awesome!”

“I know a guy from back in my art school days, he wound up being a movie set designer, but he showed me tips for making great haunted houses. Don’t worry, it’s not actually rotting, stage effects are incredible these days. Come on in!”

She waved them in, and they walked into a living room covered in black fabric, newspaper, and bottles of fake blood.

“Solomon’s setting up the back, where people will be leaving through the side door. Right now, I’m covering things too big to move with black fabric to blend it in. our parents are twittering around somewhere, gardening or something.” Corie clearly was more comfortable talking than Solomon was. He could hold a great conversation, but Corie seemed unable to stay quiet for more than five minutes. “I can give you guys a layout map of what rooms are gonna have what so you can choose your jobs, yeah?”

“Yeah!” Undyne shouted, sending a glance to Papyrus, who roughly patted her on the back. Clearly they were plotting to work together.

“I would like to work with whatever is going to be in the kitchen, if that’s alright.” Toriel spoke up, and Corie winked.

“Ah, I see you are a woman after my own tastes. Let me grab that map, where did I put it?” She wandered over to an armchair and rustled around the newspaper stacks and cloth for a bit. “I could’ve sworn…” She moved over to a couch, and finally pulled a large white piece of paper out from behind the T.V. with a loud exclamation of “Ah-Ha!”

The map of the house was passed around, and they all choose jobs. Paps and Undyne would work in a bedroom that would be turned into a Victorian-esqu room for a person to sit and rock in a chair silently. It was unclear how that was going to be scary, but there seemed to be a lot of set up for it for some reason, so of course Undyne and Paps had wanted the job with the most work. Toriel and Frisk would work in the kitchen, turning it into a “meat pie” shop. Corie kept making exaggerated finger quotes when she said “Meat pie” which just seemed to confuse the poor old goat. Asgore asked about the garden mentioned earlier and was shooed out the back door, and that left Alphys and Sans. Mettaton had been on a tour of Germany the last week. What a shame.

“Wh-what do you think you’ll work on, Sans?” Alphys asked quietly, looked at the extensive map.

“I dunno, it all looks pretty _haunting_ for a lazybones like me.”

“M-Mrs. Coriander, what is this about a-a-a lab?” Alphys had rolled her eyes at him and tsked, but smiled before asking their host about the map.

“Oooh! You’re a scientist, right? You’ll be perfect! Here, let me show you, it’s gonna be in the bathroom so the carpet doesn’t stain. We’re using these disposable chemicals to make…” Corie’s rant trailed off as she led Alphys down the hall and Sans looked back to the map. He was surprised the house had that many rooms, it hadn’t seemed like a very big house from the outside. There was a note on the map, next to a description for a drop-down ghost pulley system, that read:

_Gonna need someone to sit just inside the door all night, to spook every other person inside. Needs to be able to sit still for long intervals, and doesn’t bring much attention to themselves._

“Found my job.” Sans muttered and chuckled.

A loud, high-pitched shriek came from outside, where Asgore had wandered, so Sans went to investigate. Frisk joined him at the back door, and gave him a confused look.

“You curious too, boss? I don’t think that was Asgore, but if it was, I’d like to see what got him to that deci- _burr_.” He shivered at the cold breeze that swept through the house when he opened the door, and Frisk gave him a pointed look. He held up his hands in surrender. “Sorry, not my fault the puns just _fall_ out of me sometimes.” Frisk’s critical glare fell and they gave him a small smile before turning their attention to the yard. He followed their gaze, and gaped.

Asgore was trying to talk down a certain flower from uprooting the entire garden. Sidney Hawthorne and a large bald man were hunched over each other, laughing like mad. Sans looked between the king and the humans, then down at the little flower that had caused them all so much trouble in the past. Frisk trotted up behind Asgore, and the flower started spewing curses their way. Sans didn’t really know what to think.

When Sidney could breathe again, she walked over to Flowey just as he took a breath, and she sprayed him in the face with a squirt bottle.

“No, bad little flower.” She said, trying and failing to hide her grin. “We do not curse at large goat men. I don’t care if he is your… dad.” She snorted, sending an apologetic look towards Asgore, who gave her a smile back.

“But Mrs. Sidney!” Flowey screeched, waving his leaves frantically to get her attention.

“No means no, Flowey. If you don’t want Asgore to be here, that is not my problem. He is our guest, and you can just as easily leave.” Sidney snapped, finally losing her grin. Her tone suddenly showed her child-wrangling experience, though Sans wasn’t sure how he felt about Flowey having free range over the entire world.

To his shock - and Frisk’s, he noticed – Flowey lowered his head and muttered an apology. It wasn’t very heart-felt, but it still happened.

“Now, who are you two?” She turned to Sans and Frisk and smiled.

“I’m Sans, Sans the Skeleton.” He said, and looked down, where Frisk was signing their name. Sidney watched their hands intently, with her eyebrows knit together.

“You’ll have to excuse me, I’m still learning sign language for Dempsey.”

_That’s one question answered._ Sans thought off-handedly, if Dempsey communicated with sign language sometimes, it would explain why Solomon knew it.

“Did you say your name is Fritu?”

Frisk giggled, and shook their head, signing again, but Sidney just looked more confused.

“Their name is Frisk.” Sans said, and ruffled their hair. They swatted at him, and Sidney smiled, her confused look draining away to be more loving.

“How cute.” She whispered, and the man she had been laughing with walked up beside her.

“Hi, I’m Neil, Sidney’s husband.” He stretched his hand down for them to shake, and Sans noticed a tattoo of a flower on his upper arm.

“Nice to meet’chya.” Sans said, and Frisk waved.

“How about we go inside?” Sidney asked, grabbing Neil’s arm. “Let’s give Asgore and Flowey some space. I think they need to talk, and I’m not a family therapist.”

Sans and Frisk hesitated in their going back. Sidney and Neil seemed unperturbed by the evil little weed in their yard, as Neil discussed what treats to give to kids on their way out of the haunted house.

Sans looked down at Frisk, who seemed to be in deep thought.

“You sure we should leave them alone?” He asked quietly, and Frisk looked up at him.

***He’s not nice… but maybe talking will be good?***

“I dunno, boss. Seems pretty risky. He might be a little pansy, but he sure packs a punch.”

***So do you.*** They signed with a grimace. Sans looked at them in surprise. He knew Chara could remember resets, but Frisk never showed signs of remembering. But if they did, it could explain the last run. They had been angrier than usual. Were they angry they had reset? Had it been an accident?

“Boss? You…”

They looked down and rubbed their arm nervously.

“Why’d you keep resetting? Did you know that I…” He tried to push down the anger boiling under his bones. His magic wanted to flare out, but he wouldn’t let it. Frisk glanced at Flowey and Asgore, then back at him.

***Lets go inside. I want to work on the doll room.***

He followed them inside and into a room full of porcelain dolls. They had to hang strips of canvas from the ceiling to make a disorienting maze path. They spent a few silent moments working, Sans using his magic to do his work, so that he didn’t have to stop looking at Frisk. They finally relented.

***I’m sorry.*** their hands shook as they signed with so much emotion that his bones ached.

“Oh, kid…” He whispered, but they held up their hands to tell him to stop.

***I’m sorry, Sans. I’m so sorry. But the last reset wasn’t me. I’m not even sure if the ones before that was really me either.***

“You mean Chara?”

They shook their head hard and Sans frowned as much as his skull let him.

***Chara can’t have control when I’m like this. They…*** Their hands stilled for a moment as they thought, then shook their head like they were backtracking. ***Something else reset. It wasn’t me. I’m not sure if I have that power anymore, but I’m scared to find out since the only way to know would be…*** They slowly looked up at him, and their scared expression made the ache in his bones harsher. ***Please don’t be mad***

He dropped to his knees and wrapped his arms around them. They tensed up, and all the times that Chara tried (and failed) to spare him flashed through his mind, so he let go quickly.

“I’m not mad, Frisk. Not at you. Thanks for telling me, instead of making me lay awake at night wondering what went wrong. You’ll tell me what happened to make you reset again, won’t you?”

Their lower lip wobbled, and they sniffed harshly.

***But I don’t want to reset anymore, Sans! I like Corie and Anna, even though she’s just a little baby in this timeline. Now I get to grow up with her! And Bryce likes to talk about science and robots, and Corie makes really good food, and you’re happy, Sans!***

The ache in his bones tightened and his magic flared in his chest and soul.

“What?”

***You’re happy, Sans! I’ve seen you in so many timelines, but I’ve only seen you this happy when you’re with them! Besides that time you and I challenged Papyrus to a snowball fight and he spent the entire day making the best snow fort in the world, you’ve never smiled like you do at the Hawthornes!***

“Awe, kid, you shouldn’t put my happiness before yours.” He said, fighting back tears. Frisk shook their head again and hugged him tightly, letting out a few shaky, quiet sobs. Sans tried to control his breathing and emotions by resting his forehead on the top of their head. When he finally took an even breath, he looked up, toward the doorway to make sure that nobody had seen the spectacle. There was a flash, but he couldn’t quite determine what it was he had seen. It looked suspiciously red and yellow.

After Frisk calmed down, they finished setting up the room, which was mostly Sans using his magic to lift Frisk to the ceiling, where they attached the strips of canvas to the ceiling with thumbtacks. Later, they would set up black lights and strobes to further the disorienting effect, and arrange the dolls to look menacing in the maze. Sans wouldn’t admit it, but he was pretty freaked out by the empty eyes of the dolls. They reminded him too much of the creature that took away with friends so many timelines.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (The person sitting in the Victorian room is Dempsey, I realized i never went over that in this or the next chapter)
> 
> I know how i want to end this story, but getting to that point is harder than anticipated. with school back up, my time is being eaten up. I'm gonna be in a play, and thats gonna be a lot of work, so my writing is gonna slow down. hope you still enjoy what you get though!


	12. Other Ocs of Mine Casually Walk Through Sidney's House

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> officially Halloween. Have fun?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Brain: post this chapter even tho you have writers block on the next one.  
> Me: what? why???  
> Brain: You gotta.

Halloween came, and the Haunted house was finished. Sans couldn’t remember how the house looked before hand, since the layout seemed to have changed entirely. Sidney had made costumes for everyone. Since he and his friends were already monsters, she created new outfits with red and black, and covered in spikes. Some of them even had to wear colored contacts. Toriel actually looked threatening with pitch black eyes and her black dress. She sent the glare normally reserved for Asgore towards the people who wandered through the house, which Corie was delighted with. It scared Sans.

Anna was barely seven months old, but she could transform into her monster form, making a strange, troll-like baby that screeched like there was no tomorrow. Bryce had a more terrifying form, as it turned out, where he was hunched forward, his ears much larger, and his mane more wild. His teeth grew exponentially into sabers not unlike Rafae’s. Corie used make up to make it look like her guts were spilling out, and she somehow masterfully dragged herself along the floor as if her legs didn’t work. She was stationed in a hall not too far from Sans, so he could watch her grab at guest’s feet as they walk by. She scared every other group, with him scaring the odd numbered groups, and her scaring the evens.

Sidney and Neil wore cute witch and vampire costumes, and when Undyne had questioned their choice in scare-factor costumes, Corie had happily jumped to explain that the older couple would be the ones inviting guests in, so their costumes couldn’t be too scary. They wanted to work people into a sense of false security with a tame old couple to make the rest of the house more of a shock. Undyne had been pleased.

Solomon was dressed as a type of lumberjack monster. He dragged an axe and had huge antlers. He walked on two-foot stilts hidden by deer-like legs, making his already intense height far more imposing. His face was grim, and the make-up that made his cheeks look hollow did nothing to help. He didn’t have a set station, instead wandering between the black sheets slowly, disappearing into blackness as eerily as he had come, the large axe dragging dully behind him.

The quadruplets were there too, though Sans had not found out what roles they would be playing. He only overheard Solomon talking about not having their hair in their eyes. The thought of the horrors on their faces made Sans’ bone shake.

The inside of the house was almost a void. If it weren’t for the softly glowing blue lights along the path, even he would’ve gotten lost in the blackness, and he had helped set it up. The Hawthornes traversed the house with ease, though, showing off their expertise with their haunted houses. Solomon especially, since he was the only one who had to walk around the whole night.

Despite all the horror the house held, Corie still sent him wide, happy grins between groups of kids.

“How you holdin’ up, Sansy?” She whispered after a group of screaming boys, who had been so loud, they left his bones rattling. Walking in, the boys had been telling a smaller kid that they would protect them from ghosts and zombies. It was the little kid who had to pull them out of a corner Corie had backed them in to.

“Gotta hand it to ya, Corie.” He fell silent as the door opened again and another group wandered in. they glanced at him off hand, one of them rolled their eyes. He let them pass and Corie sent him a look, and he grinned. With a little magic, he was suddenly in front of the group, grinning widely, letting his magic pour out of his eye.

“Don’tchya know it’s rude to ignore people?” He asked casually, and the pixie-like kid leading the group screeched. They all jumped back, looked from his chair to him rapidly, then the three behind the kid burst out laughing.

“Dude! Abital! What was that sound?” the girl in a blue fairy outfit laughed, and the tall girl next to her grinned at Sans.

He flashed back to his seat when they moved on, and grinned when he heard Corie stifling laughter.

“This is the best time I’ve had in a while.”

Corie looked at him with a grin that did not fit with her outfit.

“I’m glad. You and your group are good people, Sans.”

He had to look down to hide his genuine smile from the next group coming in.

* * *

 

At around eight, they shut the door to the house for a half-hour break. Even so, there was a huge group outside, waiting. Sans watched from the window, and thought he recognized a few groups. He let the black curtain fall back over the window and moved to the back yard, where Sidney and Neil had set up chairs and snacks. There was a space heater for those who felt the late fall chill.

Undyne was laughing at something Neil had said, and smacked his shoulder roughly. Her costume was ragged black jeans and an armored top with a broken heart on it. She had contacts in that made her eyes look bigger, and just a bit crazed. There was something about all of their costumes that made Sans feel uneasy. It was vaguely familiar, like the thousands of timelines going by in the back of his head.

“HOW IS YOUR POST, BROTHER?” Papyrus asked suddenly, and Sans wondered how he could startle him like that. Usually it was him doing the sneaking on Papyrus; not the other way around.

“It’s great, bro. I get to see the groups just as they come in.”

“THAT’S FANTASTIC! UNDYNE AND I GET TO TRAP THEM WITH SPEARS AND BONES! We don’t hurt them, of course, BUT I ENJOY THE ONES WHO LAUGH! EVERYONE IS SO HAPPY TO BE FRIGHTENED!”

“yep.” The teenager named Abital flashed through Sans’s mind, and he grinned a little softer.

“HUMANS ARE SILLY!”

“yep.”

“What’s… going on? Mrs. Sidney?” a tiny voice asked, and everyone stopped and turned to a blue and white flower pot, where Flowey was hunched over himself. Sans hadn’t seen hide nor tail of the weed since the first day of helping so he assumed they had chased him off. But if he was still coming back…

“YOU!” Sans was shocked that it was Toriel who spoke first. She stood and placed herself between Flowey and Frisk, even though they were some ways apart.

Flowey flinched, and Sidney stood up from where she had been sitting across from Toriel, knitting some sort of red and green atrocity she called a sweater. She went slow, and they could hear some of her bones pop. It made both Sans and Papyrus flinch back.

“Oof, I’m too old to be gettin’ into territory disputes…” she grumbled, and walked up to Flowey, with a little help from Solomon.

“Is there something wrong, Flowey? I haven’t seen you lately.”

Flowey glanced at Frisk, who was peeking out from behind Toriel, then back to Sidney, who carefully rubbed one of his petals. He sighed, and nearly leaned into the touch.

“I saw people outside your house… weirdly dressed people I’ve never seen before. I wanted… to know…” he seemed both angry and hesitant.

“It’s Halloween, Flowey. People dress up in costumes and go door to door to get candy, or to get a good scare. We have a haunted house, where people walk through and get scares from us. It’s fun!”

“Scaring people? And they like it?” he looked disbelieving, but when she nodded, his shyness melted away into a manic grin. “Can I help?”

Sans wanted nothing more than to scream “NO!” and rip each ugly petal off the little weed’s head. But he didn’t. He wanted to smash Flowey to bits. He had ruined so many other timelines, and Sans would be damned if he let him ruin this one too. But he didn’t do anything. He and the others looked on as Sidney smiled and nodded.

“What would you like to do, sweetheart?” She asked, and Sans did not miss the ecstatic grin on Frisk’s face when they heard the term of endearment.

Flowey became a guide of sorts. He would greet people as they walked in.

_“Howdy! I’m Flowey, Flowey the Flower! Gee, you sure look confused! I’ll show you the way!”_

He wasn’t a good guide, but that was the point. He would purposefully abandon the guests when the others were in view, often leaving them in even more of a state of panic.

_“Did you hear that? Wh-what was that? I think I saw… Oh god…that face… Ineedtogobye!”_

On occasion, Sans grabbed for Flowey instead of the kids, making the flower shriek and glare at him after the kids had passed.

_“Don’t mind the skeleton; he’s a big, dead, pile of-IIEEEEE!!!! Not dead! Not dead! Let’s get out of here!”_

He was, unfortunately, a hit. Even the returnees claimed it was even scarier with the new little flower guide. Ha. If only they knew.

Once, when Flowey popped back to greet another group, he was angrily muttering. Sans distinctly heard “ _Tall man_ ,” “ _Axe,_ ” and “ _Fudging idiots_.” He wondered what Solomon did. Whatever it was, he would be sure to stick around his friend when he had the chance, just to make sure the weed didn’t try anything.

But despite that, Flowey stayed tolerable all through the night.

They didn’t close up for the night until close to midnight. Sidney explained that when they were younger, they held a haunted house until two in the morning, but after midnight, their only guests were tired teenagers, or drunks. Some of those people tended to attack scary things, so they learned to close up shop before that got out of hand.

With the house lights on, the mazes went from “Little Shop of Horrors,” to “Tornado Went Through Wal-mart” pretty quick. Even so, everyone was tired, and invited to spend the night, so they just grabbed the calzones Neil and Corie had made earlier, and settled into the living room (still strewn with black fabric) to watch some cheesy horror movies from long before the barrier broke.

Undyne and Papyrus were out halfway through the first movie, their adrenaline having run off as soon as the guests stopped coming. Toriel, Asgore, Neil, and Sidney were next. They were old; that was excuse enough.

Everyone dropped off one by one as the night became very, very early morning, until it was just Sans and Frisk. Both were yawning, but neither wanted to actually fall asleep. Frisk watch Flowey as he snored, slumped over the edge of his blue and white flower pot. They smiled at him, though Sans couldn’t figure out why.

_After everything he’s done, and they still like him?_

Sans realized the same could be said about himself, and refrained from asking about it. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know why.

***I’m scared, Sans.***

The sudden jerky hand movements caught him off guard.

“I don’t think this movie is that good, boss. Look, you can see the strings.”

Frisk shook their head and didn’t look at the movie. He had a feeling he knew what this was about, and he didn’t want to think about it.

***I don’t want to lose this. And if it does reset, I have no control of which of us takes charge.***

Them and Chara. Sans often wondered what it was that made some timelines so different. Frisk was one anomaly, this whole family was another. He never met them in the same way. They were the same, but different in every version. Gaster would’ve had a field day with studying their effects on the timelines.

As if they read his mind, Fedir came up to the couch he and Frisk were sitting on. They rubbed at their eye, which was unsettling, seeing as they didn’t have eyelids to protect their eyes. Their fist rubbed directly onto their cornea.

“What’s up, kiddo? I though you and your siblings were sleeping in the back room?” He asked, and Fedir shrugged.

“I wanted to talk with our favorite anomaly and catalyst.”

Frisk made and face at Sans.

“What do you mean, kid?”

“Tell me, Frisk, can you reset anymore?”

Frisk looked wide-eyed at Fedir and shook slightly.

“Fedir, that’s not funny. You don’t need to flaunt your omnipotence.”

***Sans, what are they? Do you know?***

“I have an idea. I found a book. I’ll have to lend it to you sometime, you really need to start preparing for… higher education.” He lifted Frisk up wards with magic for a moment, until they giggled and reach down for him. He smiled and brought them down into his lap, then turned back to Fedir.

“So where’s the rest of your quadratic equation?”

“My siblings and I are one brain split between four bodies. We may act different, but we share the same thoughts and experiences. They are here, because I am here. They can see through my eyes.”

“Is that how Rafae and Dempsey do it? How they see?”

“Possibly. Why do you care, little anomaly?” they tilted their head like a dog would, and their voice was hardly above a whisper. They weren’t going to wake anyone up.

“Because you’re weird, and I’m a bit of a scientist. Scientists love to experiment.” He glared at them, and flashed his magic eye, but they weren’t fazed. They laughed softly.

“You can’t threaten an immortal, Sans. Well, you _can_ , but it won’t get you anywhere.”

Frisk shifted, and he caught the sign ***Immortal?*** but nothing else. Fedir didn’t respond to them, exactly.

“Do you want to know more? About us? We’re flattered, Sans. If you must know, Cade and I were the frontal lobe. They were on the right, I was on the left. We’re the eyes. I’m more calculating, they’re more… more. Rafae and Dempsey were the back portion. Dempsey was on the left, with me, and Rafae was with Cade. But don’t let that make you think we are separated. Our thoughts all meld together. Even now, we can think to each other. Cade says that you should’ve gotten the special, Sans. If Solomon saw you smooching Aster, we would’ve been distracted enough to not beat a woman half to death. Dempsey says they wish it wasn’t half.

Sans groaned and looked away. Of course a simple prank from an all powerful being would’ve gotten him out of a bad situation. Frisk started signing to Fedir, and they answered their questions cryptically and softly. It mostly just left them both with more questions than answers. The worst was when Frisk asked if they were a monster or a human.

“We are many things. Just like how you can be many things, depending on the universe.”

***what else have I been?***

“Once, you became everywhere. Another time, Sans became nowhere. It’s all very entertaining for us, to see how you all turn out.”

After that, Fedir seemed to fizzle, and their perpetual frown deepened. They waved their hand in a cutting motion, and a black tear ripped into the air in front of the couch.

“I have to go, Dempsey is getting upset. When they scream it gets very unpleasant.” They stepped through the tear, and it collapsed behind them. Sans and Frisk listened for signs of an upset deity, but the house was silent, save for Asgore’s and Anna’s snores. Turns out golem babies, even if they look human, snore like an avalanche.

“Well, boss, what do you think?”

They yawned, and readied their hands, but no words came.

“Tired?” they shrugged. “Yeah, I know. Tell ya what. I’ll tell you what I learned about the kids. I don’t think I have the whole story, but it’s more than Fedir gave you.”

They gave him a curious look. ***you said you found them in a book… where did you find a book about them?***

“Back in Snowdin, when the last reset happened. I had stumbled across it a hundred resets ago, but never read it entirely. Never thought about it. Until now, at least.

***I never found a book about them there.***

“It was hidden away. It was pretty small and hard to find. But anyways, back to it. The being they used to be, was called the Anomaly Keeper. Or at least, that’s what the mythos said…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Flowey cussing like a third grader is my favorite  
> Other AUs i mentioned were Core!Frisk (by dokudoki) and Error_Sans (By Loverofpiggies)


	13. Bryce Breaks Out of His Shell, Solomon Breaks Down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this was just an excuse to write terrible jokes, thb. Solomon's BPD is expanded on.

The next few weeks, they all paid the Hawthornes more visits. Mostly, they had small parties at Corie and Bryce’s house. Anna quickly proved to be incredibly smart, even at just eight months. While she never said real words, she babbled a lot. It seemed she was taking after her mother quite a bit. She could take about three steps before falling and more if she was in her monster form. She always greeted people with a big toothless smile.

Basically, Toriel was completely enamored with little baby Anna, and would often jump at any opportunity to go see her. As long as Frisk would come with her, of course.

Anna had taken a liking to Frisk during Halloween set up, when they had offered to play with her to avoid doing work. It was then that the monsters had all found out about her habit of eating thing that weren’t ever meant to be food, when Frisk ran to Corie with tear in their eyes. They had panicked, but Corie just rolled her eyes and sighed, “Again? Oh, that little titan… don’t worry, Frisk, sweetie, she does that a lot. As long as she doesn’t go back into her human form, she’ll be fine.”

And she was. Frisk built block towers that the small golem thoroughly enjoyed to knock over. After ten minutes, Anna tried to put another toy car into her mouth, but Frisk knew it was coming, and quickly took it from her. Before Anna could throw a tantrum, Frisk sent them a big grin and demonstrated pushing the car down a blocky staircase. Anna was immediately enthralled and forgot about eating it entirely. Both Toriel and Corie had been proud.

It was nearing the end of November, close to the human holiday, Thanksgiving (which Sans never understood; they were celebrating the slaughter of their own kind. Humans thought that the color of another human’s skin changed their race? Sans never saw Undyne, or the bunnies from Snowdin anything other than a monster like him; the closest thing to another species would be boss monsters, but he only knew the two. It didn’t really count. Humans were weird.) But even with the changing of the holidays, and the coming of winter, Corie refused to take down her Halloween decorations. Instead, she rearranged the life-sized vampires, skeletons, and other creatures so they were sitting at a table, as if they were having a big dinner. She called them her thanks-o-ween decorations. Neighborhood kids loved it.

But it turned out that the Hawthornes didn’t celebrate Thanksgiving. The decorations were the most they did, and that was just because Corie didn’t want to part with the previous holiday so soon. Toriel had asked why they didn’t celebrate one day while she, Corie, Bryce, and Sans talked in their living room. Papyrus and Frisk were taking care of Anna in her play room upstairs.

“I don’t think it’s right.” Corie had grumbled, “Bryce had never celebrated it before and didn’t show an interest in it, and I don’t like the history of it all.” It seemed she shared Sans’ thoughts on that. “So instead I reorganize my decorations and donate to charities to help Native Americans. I would spend about the same amount of money on a thanksgiving dinner anyways.”

“Oh my, that’s wonderful!” Toriel said, and looked thoughtful. “Which charity do you donate to? I like your way of celebrating better than eating turkey. I do prefer snails.”

Corie blinked and looked at Bryce with what seemed to be excitement and he rolled his eyes, but smiled.

“I’ll give you the phone number and website later. You like escargot?”

“What is that?”

“Snails! I have always wanted to make them, but they’re expensive here!”

Toriel beamed, and launched into a conversation about snail recipes than neither Sans nor Bryce could keep up with.

“So Bryce.” Sans said after a few minutes, “Two atoms cross a road. One of them turns to the other and says, “ _I think I lost an electron!”_ the other says “ _are you sure?”_ and the first one replies, _“Yes, I’m absolutely positive!”_ ’

Bryce burst out with loud laughter that sounded like he was purring and giggling at the same time. Sans was glad he had someone to use all his science puns on, besides Alphys, who never seemed to truly appreciate them. Especially if he used them on her while she was working. Bryce was a good audience.

When his laughter died down, he stuck his clawed hand out to stop Sans from using another. He chuckled deeply as he breathed, “Have you heard that entropy isn’t what it used to be?”

Sans could almost feel his pupils dilate into stars. Bryce had never retaliated before, so he must’ve done something right.

“How many general-relativity theoretists does it take to change a light bulb? Two. One to hold the bulb and one to rotate space.” Sans shot back, and Bryce dissolved into laughter again. Sans looked over to where Corie and Toriel were talking and saw they were smiling at them lovingly. Corie especially focused on Bryce. She met Sans’ glance, though, and mouthed a thanks. He nodded and waited to Bryce to calm down.

Once he did, Bryce asked, “Here’s an Unsolved Question in Biophysics: Does a radioactive cat have 18 half-lives?”

There was no stopping the laughing fit that sent Sans into. “Did you… did you…” he chuckled, “was that a joke at your own… own expense?”

Bryce just grinned wide and the thin hairs covering his face couldn’t hide his blush.  
Just as Sans calmed down, the front door opened and Solomon and the quadruplets walked in. Cade had an ice pack pressed to their cheek and their smile was tighter than normal.

“Hi guys!” Solomon smiled at them, but his eyes darted between Sans and Bryce quickly, almost anxiously. “Cade’s surgery went ok, but they’re gonna be sore for a few days.”

“Surgery?” Sans asked.

“They’re double row of teeth make dental hygiene pretty hard, occasionally they have to get teeth pulled.”

“Yeesh, kid, that sounds tough.” Sans said, and Cade huffed. He could almost feel all of their eyes rolling. They and their siblings wandered upstairs after they all gave Solomon an odd pat down, which seemed like a goodbye ritual. Solomon watched them leave for a moment, and then looked back at Sans.

His look was guarded, but after meeting Sans’s eyes, it softened and he smiled.

“What are you guys talking about?”

“Toriel and I were giving each other snail recipes, and those boys were giving each other science puns.” Corie said, “The jokes were terrible, if I say so myself.” She teased, and Bryce blushed a little harder.

“Oh, that’s… nice.” Solomon muttered, and sat on the floor, between Sans’s chair and the sofa Bryce and Corie were on. Sans gave him an odd look, because there was a perfectly good chair across from the sofa, but Solomon seemed perfectly happy leaning against Sans’s seat. Humans were weird.

“You doing alright, Sweetie?” Corie asked, and Solomon looked at the ceiling.

“Yeah… I, uh… just- just one of those days, you know? Ha-ha, yeah…” Corie pursed her lips and nodded, and turned back to Toriel. She seemed bothered by his response, but Sans couldn’t say he wasn’t troubled by it either. Solomon was normally so full of life, seeing him so out of it was putting a damper on his day. He shifted so he was closer to the arm that Solomon was leaning against.

“Hey, Solomon.” He whispered, and Solomon turned to him with eyes full of hope. What he was hoping for was beyond him. “What did the snail tell the French man when he fell for his trap?”

“I dunno, what?”

“You escar-got me!”

Solomon snickered and seemed to be trying to suppress something. Sans hoped it was a joke, so he kept going.

“What did the buffalo tell his son when he left for college?”

“What?”

“Bison.”

Solomon covered his mouth and snorted.

“That was baaaaad.” He bleated the word _bad_ like a goat, while pointedly looking at Toriel. Sans grinned wider.

“Why are cemeteries bad places to sleep?” Solomon shifted and rested his arms on the arm of Sans’s chair, then put his head on top of them.

“Why?”

“Because of all the coffin.”

Sans waited for his response, but he didn’t really get one. Solomon was just staring up at him with something Sans couldn’t distinguish. He finally let out a deep sigh and whispered, “God, you’re my favorite.”

Sans blinked, not expecting that response, and Solomon suddenly went wide-eyed and jumped back.

“I-I mean, no, not my favorite, I just really like being around you and you make it seem like I don’t have these problems, and- shit, shit, I need to go.” He quickly stood before Sans could get a word in otherwise, and raced off down the hallway. Corie watched him go sadly.

When he was out of hearing range, she sighed and sent a smile Sans’s way.

“Oh sweetie… This was bound to happen at some point. Solomon told me about what happened after the Café thing, and I knew. You all accepting him so quickly really made his month, but it’s tough for him to have relationships of any kind.”

“Sans said something about a mental disability?” Toriel asked, and Corie nodded.

“Yeah, he’s borderline. The quadruplets are usually his favorite people, but since you’ve come into his life, he’s got another and it’s hard for him. If he doesn’t get attention all the time then his brain will tell him you don’t like him. He doesn’t want to believe it, but he’s basically forced to. When you raise someone onto a pedestal as quick as he does, it’s hard.”

“And Sans is his new ‘favorite person’?” Toriel asked.

“Seems like it. He was the first to accept him, as well at the kids, so it makes sense.”

“What’s it mean?” Sans asked finally, after tearing his gaze from where he had seen Solomon run off to.

“It means he loves you, but not in the usual sense. Solly doesn’t feel romantic love. It’s just that you wormed your way into his heart so quick he doesn’t really know what to do with all of this sudden new-found friend-love, and he doesn’t want you to leave.”

“I’m gonna talk to him.” Sans muttered and jumped off the chair. Corie and Bryce smiled at him, and Toriel nodded.

* * *

 

“Hey Solomon, What did the skeleton tell his friend when he was upset?” Sans asked the closed door to Solomon’s small room-away-from-home. A snuffle is all her heard in reply. “He said don’t feel _bonely,_ silly, everything’s gonna be alright. I’m here for you.”

Solomon opened his door a crack, and stared down at Sans. His nose and eyes were red, and his hair was mussed up.

“I-I didn’t mean to…”

Sans held a finger to his teeth.

“Can I come in?”

Solomon backed up and opened the door more, and Sans shoved his hands into his pockets as he walked in.

“I dunno why you’d think I would be mad at you for saying I was your favorite friend, bro.” He said with a genuine smile pointed up to Solomon, who looked anywhere but him.

“’m sorry…”

“You don’t need to apologize, bud.”

“… Sorry…”

Sans laughed a little, but stopped when he realized it wasn’t a joke. Solomon was still upset.

“Look, bud,” Solomon flinched back when he spoke, “I know humans are pretty shitty with all this mental health stuff, but monsters just want to see you happy, okay? You’re gonna have bad days, and that’s okay. We want to help you.”

Solomon rubbed his upper arms and sighed.

“I need validation and affection, and it makes me a bad person.”

“Nah, it makes you a little more needy, but that’s not bad. Papyrus needs a lot of affection too, or else he doesn’t feel good. That’s what friends are for, right?”

Solomon didn’t reply, but the faint smile that crossed his face was more than enough to make Sans feel better.

“Now, do you want some time alone, or would you like to raid your sister’s fridge with me?” He held his hand out to Solomon, who hesitated before smiling more and taking it. His hands were much bigger than Sans’s and they were covered in calluses. Sans knew he wasn’t expecting them to be rough, but now that he felt them, anything other than tough hands just seemed wrong. It fit. Just like how the Hawthornes fit so well in every timeline.

They’re unexpected, but even so, they’re perfect.

* * *

 

There’s just something about drinking ketchup straight out of the bottle that left humans amazingly uncomfortable. Sans loved it. So did Corie, despite her shudders. She also said he owed her more ketchup.

So it was with a light heart and heavy belly that they decided it would be best to collect Papyrus and Frisk. Sans and Solomon were on gathering duty, since Solomon wasn’t up for being too far away from him ever since he came out of his room.

“So, there I am, run out of my own home by my brother, and covered in Christmas tree tinsel, and Grillby shows up, that son-of-a-gun.” Sans chuckled mid-story as they went up the stairs, “Here I think he’s gonna be my savior, but he just leans down real close to me, uncomfortably close. Like, I thought he was gonna kiss me for a second, yeah, that close. And he just whispers, “Sans, pay your goddamned tab.” And walks away to leave me in my humiliation.”

Solomon laughed and opened the door to the playroom. Inside, is only Frisk, Cade, and Fedir.

“hey kids, where’s Papyrus and Anna? And your siblings?” Solomon asked casually. Sans noticed the way he seemed to study Cade and Fedir, like he was checking for anything wrong. In Sans’ opinion, he saw something wrong when Cade turned around and tilted their head into a near-impossible angle. Their smile was wide and their thin tongue swiped over their teeth quickly.

“Papyrus went to put Anna down. For a nap.” They chuckled darkly, but Solomon didn’t seem to notice. “Rafae and Dempsey are helping.”

“I’ll tell your brother that it’s time to leave. Less walking for you, right?”

“Heh, yeah. Thanks for looking out for me.”

“no problem.” Solomon patted his shoulder gently, then wandered down the hallway. Sans turned back to the playroom, and Frisk looked back at him with something akin to silent terror.

“What’s up, boss?” he asked as he made his way across the sea of toys and sat down next to the kids.

“We were discussing some interesting… things. Sans, what do you think of your brother?” Cade said. They certainly didn’t seem hindered by their ever-present grin –didn’t it make their jaw sore?- as they just kept talking without him responding. “Never mind that, we know how much you love your brother. We know how much you love your brother in _ev̵̴̡e̴͞͡r͜y̶̛ ͝t̡͢im̀͜eļi̢͢n̸e_. There’s just something about you and your brother, Sans. It’s so _ç̵̛ut͘͜e҉̡_.”

“Enough, Cade. We aren’t here to belittle him. Remember?” Fedir said quietly.

Cade sighed, but waved them on.

“We wanted you here for this, Sans. It’s very important you see this. Frisk, show him.”

Frisk lifted their hand up and even though there appeared to be nothing beneath their palm, it shone as if there was an orange light beneath it. Frisk looked up at him with tears in their eyes.

“Boss? What’s…”

“What are you gonna do, Frisk? Continue or Reset?” Cade taunted, and Sans’s eyes widened.

“Kid, don’t do that. We’re havin’ a good time not doing anything here.”

“Push the button, Frisk.” Fedir whispered in their ear, just barely loud enough for Sans to hear. As they spoke, however, they made sure to make direct eye contact with him.

Frisk closed their eyes and gulped, the tears in their eyes suddenly spilling over their cheeks. They reached forward and pushed the orange glow.

There was an intense light.

Then nothing.

Sans blinked the flash out of his eyes, expecting the worst, but was met with the playroom just as before. Frisk looked about as shocked as he felt, and when he looked down at them, they were clutching tightly at their chest. Cade was laughing wildly.

“What was that?” Sans asked slowly. He doubted he would get anything from Cade, so he looked at Fedir. They shrugged.

“Evolution, of sorts. It took us a few tries, but looks like it finally took hold.”

***I can’t reset anymore?*** Frisk asked, their hands shaking a mile a minute.

“no, no. we decided you don’t get that power anymore.”

Sans was relieved for all of about five seconds.

“Why? What do you get from it?”

Fedir laughed without smiling. “Of course, we need something in exchange. How smart of you. But it’s quite simple, really. We took Frisk’s Reset power. In reiterations of this timeline, they will no longer be able to Reset after this date. Why? It’s the easiest reason in their world, really.” Fedir and Cade leaned in close and whispered darkly, “It’s so that now  _w̧͜҉̙͇è̲̺͇̗̩͝͞_ can.”

Just as the playroom door opened again, and Solomon stepped in with Papyrus, Fedir and Cade reached to a space between reach other where an orange glow emanated from.

There was a terrible darkness.

There was a gut-wrenching falling sensation.

There was snow falling outside Sans’s window.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm thinking maybe five or so more chapters? we're getting there.


	14. Interdimensional Letters of Affection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the kids think its fun to annoy sans. this is because it is. especially when you know he cant hurt you.  
> Chara acts like ?????  
> Sans is nihilistic. B) *nothing matters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was about to take a nap but then i remembered that its update day! lucky, cause my naps last for hours and im working a play tonight!
> 
> this is mostly filler, but its sweet.

Sans sighed, but he couldn’t say he was upset at this point. This time he could actually blame his problem on a deity, but that wouldn’t help his situation. You could only feel bad for yourself over and over again so many times. He might as well just have some fun with this. It’s surely what those kids are doing, anyway.

Knowing them, they’re probably watching him, somehow.

He got out of his bed and stretched, but froze at a soft fluttering sound. He looked down and saw a small piece of paper floating down next to his slippers.

“What’re you, bud?” he muttered to himself as he bent down to pick up the paper. He could hear Papyrus waking up in the next room. The usual clatter of him arranging his attacks was familiar and grounding.

The paper wasn’t anything special. Just lined paper everyone on the surface always seemed to use. Monsters usually used recycled paper, since the small Snowdin forest was the only tree resource. But lined paper, never used before, clearly from the surface? It wasn’t a full sheet, but it filled Sans with concern. This was new.

He unfolded the small paper and saw a small drawing. He couldn’t tell what it was, but he didn’t like it. Above the drawing, was a note:

_Sans,_

_Don’t come looking for us when you see the sky. We might be out of practice, but we can manipulate their minds. We want to see how far the fates can carry us separately._

_-You know who we are._

It was as cryptic as ever, but he got the message. They didn’t want him to go looking for the Hawthornes. Given, he had never actively looked for them before, but he had been hoping he and Frisk would work together this time. If Frisk was Frisk, of course. He grumbled and crumpled up the paper, before shoving it into his jacket pocket. He wondered that if they could send him messages, if he could send some back. He had a few choice words he could share.

At this point, Papyrus was in the kitchen, and he would be calling up the stairs for Sans soon anyways, so he just went down anyways.

“OH! BROTHER! YOU ARE UP?” Papyrus exclaimed when Sans sat down at their kitchen table.

“heh, yeah, pretty weird, huh?”

“INDEED! PERHAPS YOU HAVE FINALLY TAKEN MY ADVICE ABOUT THE EARLY BIRD AND THE WORMS?”

“maybe, you sure did make aviary good argument.” His smile grew fonder when Papyrus screeched in response. There was just something so fun about annoying the hell out of people who hated puns. (Or who pretended to not like them, that is. He was sure Pap liked at least half his jokes.)

* * *

 

He spent that first day wandering around Snowdin, thinking of what to do once Frisk would get there. He grabbed the Mythos from the library again, and flipped through a few other pages.

He really hoped the kids were the only real creatures from the book, since most of the things mentioned were perfect nightmare fuel. It had a lot more to say about angels, and angels that had fallen from the hierarchy after going mad. One of these angels had made a name for herself by bringing a child back to life, and that child then went on to massacre a town’s worth of people, in order to make them into dolls.

He was glad he never brought the mythos home as a bed time story for Paps.

* * *

 

The next day, he woke up like usual; with Papyrus pounding on his door, shouting about recalibrating puzzles.

He vaguely remembered a timeline where he decided to get decent rest at night. He had shocked Pap by getting up early every morning. He had been so proud. Then it reset, and Sans figured he had gotten enough normal sleep for himself, and went back to napping.

He threw his jacket on, not bothering to change, and trudged downstairs. Papyrus was bouncing on the balls of his feet excitedly.

“I FEEL LIKE TODAY IS THE DAY, SANS! THERE IS NO DOUBT THAT TODAY I WILL GET THE CHANCE TO TRULY PROVE MYSELF TO UNDYNE! FOR I! THE GREAT PAPYRUS! WILL CAPTURE! A HUMAN!”

“I bet you will, bro. you’re the coolest.”

“NYEH-HEH! OF COURSE I AM! COME ON, SANS!” Papyrus sprinted out the door and Sans slowly followed him out, stopping only to lock the door behind him.

* * *

 

The forest around Snowdin was bitter and cold, but he couldn’t feel the chill. He could, however, appreciate the view. It could never compare to the forests above ground, but the snow glowed and made it look like the spaces between the trees were sparkling. On days like these…

Well, on days like these, Sans fell asleep at his post.

It was only for a few moments, but when he lifted his skull from the counter, something had changed.

There weren’t new foot prints in the snow, or any early Frisks watching him while he slept, but there was another note.

_Rafae messed up my drawing from before, so I had to redraw it. Here you go!_

_(P.S: If you think loud enough, Dempsey will hear you.)_

_-Cade and co. ;3c_

Sans looked farther down the page and saw a crude drawing of Sans, but he seemed to be wearing armor, like Papyrus’s “Battle Body”. Next to it was a little note that said _Blueberry Sans._

He didn’t know why the kids were like this, and he just wanted to go back to bed, but Frisk would be coming soon. He was gonna greet them a little differently.

* * *

 

Sans leaned against the wall of the ruins leisurely. He couldn’t hear anything from behind the big door, but that was normal.

After a few moments, the door swung open and Frisk stepped out slowly. They took a few steps forward, and the door shut loudly. They continued their trek through the snow without missing a beat.

“hey kid.” Sans called out, and they froze, and slowly turned around.

“bout time, you sure did stop and smell the roses, didn’t ya?”

They met his gaze once then refused to look anywhere near him. He stepped towards them, then stopped. He hadn’t noticed the knife before, but they were holding tightly to a plastic toy knife, covered in an ashen dust. In fact, so were they. It was in their hair, their clothes, they were covered in dust. When they glanced at him, their eyes were a reddish brown.

“heh… I’m not feeling like doin’ this right now, kid.” Sans sighed, and they looked up at him more, in confusion. He ignored the look and summoned a Gaster B

laster. Their eyes widened.

***wait, Sans, it’s not m-*** the blaster shot them straight on, and Sans woke up in his bed. It was snowing.

* * *

 

The next time, when the kid came out of the ruins, it was the real Frisk.

They gave him an odd look when they left the ruins, but he just smiled, and said,

“Heya boss, you wanna get to breaking down that barrier?”

They smiled, and he let them ride on his shoulders until they got to his sentry station, where he stopped them from going to the lamp. When Papyrus showed up, Sans told him he had captured a human, but said they wanted to try the puzzles anyways. Frisk grinned, and Papyrus was over the moon. Those two still needed their bonding, of course. And would it be cruel for Sans to admit he liked seeing Frisk eat Pap’s spaghetti? Now knowing that they remembered timelines just made their determination to make Paps happy all the more enjoyable.

* * *

 

That run, things went by quickly. With Sans’s help, Undyne wasn’t a problem, and Alphys didn’t bother with turning on the Hotland puzzles. She knew that he knew that Hotland never actually turned on the puzzles, and she didn’t want to get on his bad side. She still used Mettaton, and as much as the robot infuriated him, Frisk sure did like fighting and striking poses with him.

Occasionally, Sans wondered if his working so close with Frisk would change his friendships with the other monsters, but it didn’t seem to bother most monsters, besides Undyne, who missed out on her and Frisk’s usual fight because of him; and Mettaton, who told Frisk he was disappointed in their choice of accessories, and that he’d be a much better suited partner than a “ _Lazy piece of shi- shed_.” He had corrected himself, of course, when Sans had sent a magic-fueled glare his way.

When it came time to face Asgore, the king had not noticed Frisk at first, and smiled warmly at Sans.

“Howdy, Sans, it has been a while. Is your brother looking forward to Christmas this year? Did he want you to deliver his list early again this year?”

“He does, but he’s not finished with it yet. MTT released a new product chain and he wants all of it. That’s not why I’m here.”

“well,” the king chuckled, “I doubt it’s for work. Would you like some tea?” he looked down as he began to turn around, and caught sight of Frisk hidden behind Sans’s leg, peeking up at him. He stared for a few moments, then rapidly glanced between him and Frisk.

“Ah.” He sighed, “So it is about work. I suppose this was inevitable. I heard that there was a human in the Underground again. Shall we?”

“No.” Sans’s response seemed to shock Asgore. “I’m not letting you hurt Frisk. We have things to do on the surface.”

“But Sans, they have to-”

“I know what you think they have to do. But you’re wrong.” He turned down and spoke quietly, “Frisk? You wanna do what you usually do?”

***Well… it’s not usually me…*** they signed, without looking at him.

“What?”

***It’s usually Flowey who does it.***

“What!” Asgore took a step back when he raised his voice. No wonder the kid was nice to the little demon flower. Doesn’t make much sense, but Frisk wouldn’t lie about that.

***cause… Flowey’s, uh… remember in the last good timeline, and Mrs. Sidney sprayed him with a water bottle?*** He nodded. ***And she said “don’t yell at him, even if he is your dad”?***

Sans didn’t remember. He knew Sidney had been laughing pretty hard at the time, and some of her words had slurred together. For whatever reason, Sans didn’t remember Sidney ever saying anything about Flowey’s dad.

***Oh… I guess it was hard to hear her, but… Flowey used to be…***

“Alright kiddo. I think I get it.” He turned to the king, and smiled.

“Sans, I do not understand. What are you thinking?”

“You got a talking flower in here? Cause he’s the key.”

“you mean…”

“What are you doing?!” A tiny voice screeched. Flowey popped up between Asgore and Sans. “You’re messing up this whole timeline!” he flapped his leaves angrily and spat.

***Don’t you want to go see Mrs. Sidney again, Flowey*** Frisk asked, and he fell silent and looked at the ground.

“Well… she was… but… But that doesn’t mean you can do whatever you want! You gotta do it right!”

“Says who, bud?”

Flowey frowned deeply at Sans and turned to Frisk.

“you’ll see, you’ve changed this timeline too much, and you don’t know how that will change the surface. It’s probably some sort of… heck –scape. You don’t want to go out there.”

Frisk clenched their fist in front of them and Sans could nearly feel their determination come off them in waves. They didn’t need signs to explain what they were saying.

***It’ll be fine, I’m determined to keep us all safe.***

Flowey didn’t seem pleased, but sighed.

“Alright, I’ll help. but just this once.” He sat straighter in the dirt, and Sans felt vines wrap around his ankles.

“I’m gonna need your souls.”

“What the hell?” Sans shouted, throwing a panicked look over his shoulder at Frisk, who gave him a determined shrug. Coming from anyone else, Sans would’ve questioned it. But sometimes it seemed like everything the kid did was determined.

There was a flash of burning light that reminded him of Frisk’s failed reset in the other timeline, and he resented that Cade and Fedir were the last things on his mind the moment before he died. He closed his eyes tight against the harsh light.

* * *

 

He woke up and the garden room was suddenly filled with monsters. Nearly everyone he had ever met was there, and then some. Most of them seemed to be in the same predicament as he was. He scanned the room, but couldn’t find Frisk, Flowey, or Asgore. Papyrus and Undyne found him first.

“BROTHER! WHAT HAPPENED? ONE MOMENT WE WERE FIXING UNDYNE’S BURNING HOUSE, AND THEN SUDDENLY WE ARE HERE! WHERE IS THE TINY HUMAN?”

“You better not have lost ‘em in this crowd, Sans” Undyne glared down at him without any harsh intent. “You wouldn’t lose my bestie, would you?”

“Nah, I think they’re in the next room. A lot happened.” He stood up and they followed him out of the crowded room. There were a few stragglers in the hall, but they didn’t question their group. The Nice Cream Man seemed to be dazed and confused without his cart.

They find them in the hallway Frisk normally wakes up in. there’s an intense light flooding in through the final doorway, that Sans can only define as true sunlight. It’s beautiful, and if it weren’t for also seeing Frisk holding Flowey in a flower pot, he could’ve cried in joy.

But Frisk was holding the demon flower that had taken his soul moments before in a brown ceramic pot, and he wasn’t as happy.

“Frisk!” Undyne shouted, and they turned to them with a smile. Undyne was about to rush forward, but stopped abruptly when a door slammed open and Frisk’s grin turned into a goddamned sunbeam, rivaling the one just a hundred feet away.

***Mom!***

“I came to help you but… how did you bring down the barrier without sacrificing yourself?” Toriel came forward slowly, and glared at Asgore, though the look wasn’t as heated as it had been in previous timelines. Maybe it was because she hadn’t walked in on a fight.

Frisk puffed out their chest and flexed one arm.

***Determination***

Toriel laughed and hugged Frisk, around Flowey’s pot.

“And these are all your friends?”

They nodded and smiled up at Sans. ***Alphys isn’t here, but yeah! Sans helped me through the whole Underground!***

Toriel looked up at him with a grateful expression. “Thank you.”

“hey, no problem. The _kid_ wasn’t a ewe-sance.” Toriel’s eyes widened and Papyrus groaned.

“SANS, WHY MUST YOU EMBARRASS YOURSELF, AND MORE IMPORTANTLY- ME, IN FRONT OF THE STRANGE SHAVED KING-CLONE?”

“You are the one on the other side of my door! I remember your voice!”

“is that so? There sure are a lot of guys over here, you sure it wasn’t my brother?”

“I am tempted to say it was him, though I believe he’d be upset if I implied he would ever be able to _rib_ on our caliber.”

“THIS IS BY FAR THE WORST DAY OF MY LIFE! COME, LITTLE HUMAN, THE SURFACE HAS OPENED UP AND I WANT YOU TO TAKE ME TO THE FINEST SURFACE SPAGHETTIOR YOU KNOW!”

Frisk, holding Flowey in one hand, and Papyrus’s in the other, led the way outside with a bright grin. Sans and Toriel made up the last of the group, but neither of them minded. They joined with the rest of the group when everyone was standing together to watch the sunset.

Sans caught Frisk’s eye, and they smiled brightly at him. He hadn’t told them about the notes, but he couldn’t ruin this perfect moment.

They had time. This, he knew. For a few months, until the kids would gain the power of the reset again, Sans knew there wouldn’t be another redo. Frisk wanted this about as much as he did. They weren’t using their power stupidly anymore.

Sans looked back to the setting sun and sighed. A small city in northern Michigan was settled just twenty miles south, and for once, he felt close to home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Blueberry Sans is Underswap Sans. sweet smoll blueberry :3c)  
> Flowey's still just a kid, and you know how little kids use words that sound like curses but aren't? that's my fave. little demon flower child refusing to say hell, cause he might get in trouble with dad.


	15. Lemon Scones are Bitter Sweet pt.1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything goes to shit. I'm sorry, but timelines can just really suck. we can probably blame it all on Cade, though.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some anxiety attack triggers in this chapter. Sans' attack is based off of how i feel during one, so it might be kinda weird? it's got some dissociation mixed with it, that's why.
> 
> I wanted so much more to happen in this chapter but I was slow writing it. so this is part one, and you'll get part two sometime next week. I'm going on a school trip, so it might not be Thursday.

It had been far too long. He didn’t think it was possible to not see the Hawthornes for so long in such a small city; he had been sure they would meet up by the time a year had passed. Three years at most.

Twelve years had gone by, and it wouldn’t be the first time that Sans wondered if the quadruplets had moved them to another city.

Frisk (and Flowey, though he would never admit it) were both upset about the situation, but neither wanted the quadruplets to go through with their threat, so they didn’t actively go looking.

That didn’t stop any of them to send hopeful glances around the streets when they walked around, though.

Even at eighteen, Sans saw Frisk throwing quick looks over their shoulder, just in case. Sometimes, their determination was the only thing keeping him hopeful as well.

Most of the time, he just wanted to throttle those kids.

* * *

 

But even Frisk’s hope wasn’t boundless. They could feel themselves slowing down. Toriel noticed, of course, but it was easy to blame it on busy classes. At least they could talk to Sans and Flowey about it. It was better than previous timelines, where they had no one.

While they had shot up like a bean stalk, their plant friend, ironically, had not. Flowey was maybe a few inches taller, but being a soul-less being and plant, he mostly stayed the same. Always angry, and just a little unstable.

Over the years, Frisk had gained a collection of flower pots for Flowey to travel in. He liked being carried around by them, though he would never admit it.

As they walked home from school, Flowey in a pink polka-dotted pot made of delicate china, Frisk hummed and Flowey tapped away at their DS with his leaves. It was calm, the sun was shining low in the sky, and it was quiet. The only interruptions were Flowey’s button pushing, Frisk’s soft steps, and the sound of somebody’s quickly approaching footfalls.

Wait.

Frisk didn’t have time to react before a body slammed into them and they fell to their side, just barely reaching around Flowey’s pot to protect him.

“HEY!” Flowey screeched, and when Frisk looked up, they saw a young monster kid covered in blackish blue feathers. He had clawed wings for arms, and a black beak that took up almost half his face. He rubbed at his head with a feathered hand and glared at them. Something about him reminded Frisk of a certain little friend.

“It’s not my fault! Nu-uh! You got in my way!”

Frisk sat up and gently put Flowey down so they could sign.

***Are you okay? Did I hurt you?***

His eyes widened incrementally, but then returned to his glare quickly. Frisk was sure he’d be frowning if his beak allowed that movement.

“Shut up! I don’t need your help! I don’t need-”

“Seamus! Seamus, come back!”

“Fuck.” The kid hissed, and Frisk’s eyes widened. Toriel would be fuming if she knew such a young kid was using bad language. He looked behind him and they saw an older girl running towards them. She looked vaguely familiar-

Mid stride, just as Frisk noticed the enraged look on her face, her body started to glow and shift, and a moment later, there was an eight-foot ashen grey golem lumbering towards them, much faster than the girl. Frisk could’ve cried right then and there.

“Shit shit shit. Get outta my way, she’s gonna kill me.”

Frisk grabbed his arm as he stood, and pulled him closer to them. Flowey was oddly quiet as he watched the golem speed towards them. When she reached them, and the boy had solemnly stopped struggling, the girl transformed back.

“Seamus Erik Hawthorne,” Anna demanded with all the control a twelve year old could have, “This is the last time. You cannot keep doing this, mom is u-upset as is.” Her voice cracked as she spoke, and Frisk’s joy was suddenly diminished with worry. Seamus completely relaxed in their grip and breathed unevenly. Something was really wrong.

Surprisingly, it was Flowey who spoke up.

“Is everything alright?”

Anna suddenly looked at them as if she hadn’t noticed them at all.

“Oh! Thank you for holding him for me. He can’t fly yet, but when he learns, its gonna be a lot harder to catch him when he runs away.” She had a big smile as she waved off Flowey’s question, and Seamus grumbled something incoherent. It almost sounded like a bird chirping.

***do you need help going home?***

Anna glanced between their hands and Seamus, who sighed.

“do we need help going home?”

Anna looked at Frisk critically for a moment, but then up at the setting sun and sighed.

“Mom will be upset if we come home late again… a witness would be nice.”

Frisk frowned. This didn’t sound right at all. They stood up, carefully put Flowey in their backpack, and took the kid’s hands. Anna smiled up at them, and Seamus grumbled more, but gripped their hand tightly. His feathers were a combination of flight feathers and down. It was soft.

* * *

 

Flowey asked a few questions on the way to their house, but Seamus didn’t reply, and Anna only gave vague answers. She must’ve learned from the quadruplets.

As they walked up the path to their house, the door was flung open and Coriander Hawthorne sprinted out.

“oh my babies, you’re okay. Oh, oh dear,” she kneeled in front of Seamus and covered his face in gentle kisses. he scrunched his face up, but otherwise relaxed at her presence. “I was so worried. Why were you out so late? It’s-it’s getting close to evening.” She reached desperately for Anna’s hand, and the girl squeezed her tight. It wasn’t until Flowey cleared his throat that she stopped her worrying and looked up at Frisk.

“Thank you for walking them home. I hope they weren’t too much trouble,”

Frisk shook their head quickly. ***no, it’s fine. I wanted to make sure they were safe.***

Corie sniffed and grabbed Frisk’s left hand, and pressed her face into it.

“Thank you.” She breathed for a moment, and then stood up suddenly. “Where are my manners? Come in, I made scones, you can take some home if you’d like.”

Frisk remembered Corie’s cooking, and their mouth watered.

***Sure, let me text my mom.*** Corie watched their hands with rapt attention, taking a moment to register what they said, and then gasped.

“Oh! Of course! Please don’t let me make your mother worry as well!” she ushered her kids into the house and left the door open so Frisk could come in when they were ready. They pulled their phone out and texted Toriel.

_I met some friends, their mom is gonna send me home with some scones, is that okay?_

Toriel wrote back a few minutes later with a smiley face.

Frisk moved to put the phone away, but stopped when they remembered someone very important.

_Hey, what’s the best part of a rose bush?_

_*I dunno boss_

_*what_

_The HawTHORNES_

They had agreed that if they ever ran into the family, then they would do some sort of code word. They never discussed it, but they somehow decided that it would be the family name.

Sans didn’t reply for a while, and by the time he did, Frisk and Flowey were chatting with Corie in her kitchen. She was incredibly happy, and Frisk couldn’t pin point what was wrong. There was certainly something missing, but they couldn’t think of what it could be.

_*what_

_*please dont be joking_

_*boss, dont do that_

Frisk glanced at their phone and frowned. Why would they joke about that?

“is that important, sweetie? Is it your mom? I’ve kept you here a while…”

***Its okay, it’s my uncle Sans. Let me reply real quick***

Corie nodded and puttered around the kitchen.

_I’m not kidding, Sans. I ran into Anna and her little brother on the street, and I’m at Corie’s house now. She made scones._

_*…_

_*can i…_

_Sans there’s something wrong. I can’t figure it out. But everyone’s off._

_*I’m coming over._

Frisk knew he meant it when he actually used punctuation and capitalization.

***Corie, my uncle’s gonna come pick me up, is it ok if he stays and meets you and the kids for a few minutes?***

Corie beamed. “Yes! Of course! I would love to meet your family!”

***Great, cause he-***

“Heya Bo-” Sans hadn’t wasted anytime in teleporting into the doorway of the kitchen. He cut off suddenly, and Frisk turned around to see that his pupils were gone from his eyes, and sweat beaded at the side of his head. He gulped as the knife now embedded in the wall centimeters from his skull wobbled with the force of Coriander's throw.

***Uncle Sans!*** Frisk quickly signed, making sure that Corie could see their hands. She paled and put a hand over her mouth and rushed forward.

“Oh dear, I’m so sorry, I didn’t know you were their uncle! You scared me half to death!”

“Heh, no harm done. No dust on your hands.” Sans said with a slight chuckle, but Corie didn’t smile. She flinched back and took a deep breath.

“I’m sorry, that was…”

“Corie?” a voice called out from the back of the house. Bryce? He sounded different. “Are there guests?”

“Yeah!” Corie shouts, the tense atmosphere around her suddenly dropping, “Sorry, I forgot you were still here!”

Before Sans could wonder about that, Solomon walked up the hall and glanced at Sans with surprise.

“Oh, I don’t know you.” Solomon scratched at the scruff on his chin awkwardly. “I was expecting Mattie or that kid who messes with the TV… Hi, I’m Solomon, Corie’s little brother.” He held his hand out, and Sans noticed the way it shook nervously. He was putting himself out there, even though he didn’t like it. For Corie’s sake, maybe?

“Sans, Sans the skeleton. That’s Frisk, my niece-few.”

“niece-few?”

They shrugged at him and signed, ***There’s no gender neutral version of niece or nephew.***

Solomon chuckled and nodded. his smile revealed a missing front tooth that somehow made his smile complete in a way Sans never thought about before. It was cute, in a way.

“well, Sans, you got here… quickly… I suppose you’d like to take Frisk home now?” Corie said softly.

“Nah, I thought I’d hang out and talk to our new pals for a bit. Any friend of Frisk is a friend to the rest of us. Their mom seemed excited about the possibility of scones?”

Corie smiled brighter and nodded quickly. “Of course! You can stay as long as you’d like!”

“great, you got a guest room?”

Corie blinked for a moment, comprehending, and then threw her head back and laughed. She laughed so hard that tears started dripping down her cheeks. Sans heard Solomon suck in a quick breath, and when he looked up at him, Solomon was smiling sadly. He glanced at Sans and gave him a look that tugged on his soul strings.

Why were they all so sad?

“Sans, you are quite the _comic_. I must say, I’m impressed.” Corie finally said, “Come in here and have some scones. They’re lemon.”

They all sat down at the island in the middle of the kitchen and Corie passed out some scones to them, and started some casual conversation. She asked about what Sans did for a living, and what Frisk wanted to do after high school. Frisk had groaned loudly, much like Flowey did when annoyed.

Speaking of the little devil, Flowey had been carefully placed on the window sill with Frisk’s DS, and occasionally cursed. Each time, Corie would shoot the flower a disappointed look. Flowey had the decency to at least pretend to be sorry.

Everything was pretty okay, besides the tense feeling underneath every word either Solomon or Corie would say. There was something really, really, wrong.

“MOOOOOM!” a voice screeched from somewhere upstairs, and the pounding of small footsteps soon followed. In no time, a little boy covered in feathers was launching himself at Corie, who had stood the moment he screamed.

“Seamus? Sweetie? What’s wrong?” Corie asked softly.

“Anna’s doing experiments on my toys again! She melted Bubba!” the boy held up a stuffed toy Orca whale with tears in his eyes. The whale seemed to be victim of a serious chemical burn. The boy’s beak clacked harshly as he cried.

“Seamus, it’s okay. I can get grandma to fix Bubba up. Are you okay?”

Sans wondered how absorbent feathers were as Seamus wiped at his eyes with his winged arms.

“I’m not hurt… I scared her back…”

“Seamus!” Corie loudly reprimanded, “What have I told you about using your magic on her? Come on, young man, you’re going to go apologize.” Corie took hold of his wrist and tugged him up the stairs. He left his toy on her seat.

“Thank you, you two.” Solomon suddenly sighed, and Sans and Frisk looked at him curiously. He rubbed at his stubble again, “Corie hasn’t been the same since her husband died three years ago.”

It felt like the chair got ripped from beneath Sans. There was something wrong with this timeline. There was something terribly, drastically wrong with this timeline. His vision clouded until he was vacantly staring at the wall behind Frisk and Solomon.

Bryce was dead?

The man he had shared terrible science puns with was dead?

He ground his teeth together slowly as the thoughts spun around his head. Solomon was explaining what happened to Frisk, but he couldn’t fully grasp what the words meant.

“Anti-Monster Group…”

“Ganged up…”

“Anna… _everything_ …”

Sans just barely stopped a growl to escape, but he was saved by the ringing of his phone.

The magic building inside his skull seeped away and he pulled his cell out of his jacket pocket. It was Undyne. He held up a finger to Solomon, who had looked at him when his phone went off, and wandered into the living room to answer.

“sup, Undyne.”

“Yo, have you seen Alph?”

“Nah, I’m with Frisk. They made friends with some humans and I wanted to say hi.”

Undyne let out an angry huff and Sans could hear her loud stomps from pacing.

“anything wrong?”

“Yeah! She started saying some weird shit about ‘living with guilt’ and how ‘she doesn’t deserve this,’ then ran off! I can’t find her anywhere!”

This was a bad day.

He felt like he was being pulled backwards, like he was falling again. The lights left his eyes.

_Shit_.

He forgot.

This timeline got so fucked up that he forgot.

“Me an’ Frisk’ll find her. Just hold on.” He muttered slowly. Speaking calmly felt like he was rolling marbles in his mouth. It was wrong, all he wanted to do was scream.

He hung up before Undyne could respond and rushed to the kitchen.

“We gotta go, kid. Alphys needs help.” He pleaded, and Frisk looked confused for all of about five seconds, until guilt flooded their face.

***Shit.***

“Yeah. Hey, Solomon, I’m sorry we can’t stay, but our friend is in a tough place right now. Please tell Corie we’ll visit again.” Solomon nodded, looking sad and confused.

“Sure thing, umm… take some scones?”

Frisk grabbed three as they grabbed Flowey, and shoved all of them in their backpack, much to Flowey’s displeasure. As soon as they got to Sans’ side, he teleported them to the Core.

* * *

 

Everything was run down. The first few years, there were monsters who stayed underground to avoid the worst of the anti-monster rallies. But by now, everyone was gone. Now, there was no way these puzzles could even turn on. The magma below still glowed brightly, and heated the area to uncomfortable temperatures – not that he could really feel them – but the way everything looked grey with dust made everything chillier, somehow.

Alphys’ lab stood tall, watching over all the broken workings of Hotland’s power cell. It looked dark and vacant.

Frisk and Sans knew it wasn’t.

They rushed for the door to the lab.

* * *

 

“Alphys!” Sans yelled out when he managed to pry the elevator door open. She had locked everything down, so it had taken his magic to get everything open. He wished she had included stairs, because as soon as they got into the elevator, it dropped like a rock, only stopping with the help of his magic.

He was already tired.

Frisk went ahead of him, looking around the old lab, but the more they ran around, the more frantic they looked.

***nobody’s here, Sans. No Amalgamates, no Alphys, I don’t know where to look.***

“Shit, kiddo, I’m not sure… it was always you doing this part…” he grabbed his head and breathed heavily. This was all going to shit.

His phone rang again. Frisk looked surprised.

***There’s no signal here, Sans. Even with the underground phones.***

He stared at the unknown number for another ring, and then picked up.

“kids?”

“Sans, it’s Rafae. You probably figured that out, but… I-we heard you at the house. Nice to know this is as far as we can go without you in our lives.”

“What do you want, you gremlin?”

“Sorry, sorry, sorry, I- uh, I need… Dempsey, you talk.”

“Hey Sans. Cade and Fedir are wanting to reset since they know you showed up at the house and this run through wasn’t very fun. But you’re doing something important, right?”

“Yeah, where’s Alphys?’

“She’s the doctor, right?’

“where is she? You can tell, cant you?”

“Sure, cause that’s how my powers work. And you don't teleport through a void to get anywhere in space. Look, it’s not that simple, you should know that. As we speak I am viewing an infinite number of universes. I am literally watching a view of Alphys and Undyne flying on Mettaton like a [magic carpet](https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/hphotos-xfp1/t51.2885-15/s320x320/e35/12394156_445446998981763_755910707_n.jpg). There are so many Alphys’ in front of me I can’t tell which is for this sole universe.”

“Jesus Christ, kid. Is that-“

“the same for all of us? Rafae and I have it the worst. Having no eyes gives us more vivid vison. Cade and Fedir have a better sense of where each string is placed in the mesh of reality. Now, you think Alphys is in the underground, right?”

“in the lab.”

“I can’t cut it down that narrow. Sometimes there is no lab, sometimes there’s a lab but no underground. ‘the lab’ is too broad.”

“Fine, yes, underground.” Frisk was looking as antsy as he felt.

“what year is it?”

“202X. don’t you have a calendar to look-“

“I have no eyes sans. I only see universes from the outside. Calendars are hard to focus on.”

“right. of course.” he sighed sarcastically.

There were a few tense moments of silence, but then there was a distant squeak and Rafae had the phone again.

“I think I got her. She isn’t in the lab, she’s out on the bridge by the water cooler.”

“what is she doing out there?” Sans muttered, hanging up and pulled the elevator doors open again. The last vestiges of power in the building were gone, as the elevator sunk just a bit lower and the already dim, flickering lights burned out completely.

Sans turned to Frisk, who was wringing their hands nervously.

“We’ll get her, Kiddo. I can lift this thing back up, I think. Let’s go.”

Frisk nodded and stepped into the elevator with him. Their heart beat with a steady rhythm of pure determination. They wouldn’t lose their friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to the wonderful Esiako, who has been reading this since i started it? You pointed out a plot-hole with Alphys last chapter and it gave me a whole bunch more to write about! you are wonderful!
> 
> I love constructive criticism, please dont be afraid of pointing things out to me, especially if it's something that will make my writing better in the long run :3 I need to pay more attention to what I write sometimes :3c


	16. Alphys Has a Retched Time, but Don't Worry, it's the Timeline's Fault

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry.
> 
> lots of explanations, and a f҉҉͍̞a̠̘̖̞̠̦͞ͅm̟̦̩i̵̼̣̗̬͎ͅl̫̗̗͔̲͎i̡̼̻̲a̹̻̘͈̻͙̲̕͟r̡̗͓̹̠͎? face shows up. I didn't mean for any of this to happen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which everything gets way weirder than I expected it to. even I'm a little confused.
> 
> sorry for the delay, the drama fest trip distracted me from writing. this would've been a lot longer if the trip didn't happen :/
> 
> please tell me if the explanations dont make sense to you, I've got the ideas in my head but sometimes they dont translate into words right :///

Alphys was full of regret.

She couldn’t believe she had left this problem to fester for so long.

She couldn’t let it be anymore. Even if her friends hated her for it, she had to right everything she had done. Leaving the Amalgamations for so long was terrible, but not as terrible as making them in the first place.

She would come to visit every so often of course, at least once a week, to make sure they were fed and alive. But of course they were alive. They were injected with pure DETERMINATION. Falling down wasn’t really an option at this point, unless someone came at them with a knife.

Endogeny whimpered and stuck their oozing head under Alphys’ arm as she looked down the bridge leading to Waterfall. Alphys scratched behind their ears mournfully.

She should’ve dealt with this sooner. She should’ve told everyone what happened long before Frisk came. But the longer she waited, the harder it got to speak up. The letters piled up and she still did nothing. At this point, it was too late to really do anything.

She sniffed and rubbed at her eyes. Snowdrake’s mother cooed softly to her.

“I-I-I’m sorry gu-uys… I’m s-such a coward.” Endogeny rubbed against her side comfortingly. She managed a little smile. She was surprised they still put up with her. She didn’t know why they wouldn’t just leave the Underground, since they had free range over the whole place at this point. But they stayed and waited for her visits, and listened to her talk about the surface. They were good listeners.

Well, most of them were, Lemon Bread talked over her still, but they were learning.

She just wished that she could have reunited them with their families when she had the chance.

Reaper Bird squawked at them from the other side of the bridge and Snowdrake’s Mother shuffled across a little quicker, whispering “Sn..o…wy…” under their breath. Alphys moved to keep walking, and Endogeny raced forward, wanting to be in front.

Endogeny always wanted to be in front. That, and dog treats.

“Alphys!”

She jumped at the sudden shout and quickly turned to see Sans and Frisk running towards her. They glanced at the amalgamations behind her, but were mostly focused on her. She stared to shake.

“Alphys! What are you doing?” Sans shouted. He was almost to the bridge, Frisk right on his heels. Alphys took a hesitant step back. She had never seen Sans so active. Something must be really wrong for him to move so much. He was mad at her, wasn’t he?

Oh god, they found out, didn’t they? Everyone found out and they want to cut ties with her. Oh god, she was going to lose everything. Her friends, her surface house, her crush… Oh no, Undyne. Undyne hated her.

Sans and Frisk were on the bridge now, getting closer and closer. Oh god, they must be so mad. She took a bigger step back, shaking and sweating, but her heart dropped as her claws were met with nothing but hot air. Sans shouted and ran faster, but all she saw was the dark cavern ceiling as she fell into the blazing light of the magma far below.

She closed her eyes as she dropped, and thought about how fitting it was that she would die in the underground, buried with all her secrets.

* * *

 

Sans stared over the edge of the bridge. Frisk was shaking and couldn’t face him, but he could tell they were crying. He was so tired.

Lifting an elevator with a full-grown frisk and himself up at least a few hundred feet had put a strain on his magic. He was overworked, and he should’ve considered what might happen, but Rafae had told them where to find Alphys, and he couldn’t let anything happen to her.

God, he should have waited a minute. Maybe eat one of the scones from Corie. But he had just ran straight into the thick of it.

She jumped. Or, she fell, he couldn’t tell, it all happened so fast.

He wasn’t fast enough, not strong enough.

He couldn’t have saved her.

The dog amalgamation whimpered from the other side of the bridge. What was its name? Dog… something with dog. It didn’t matter. His world was falling apart. This timeline was falling apart.

What was so wrong with this timeline? What happened to make all of this happen? It was like someone had gone in and messed with the strings that tied everyone together. Someone had decided to just fuck it and-

Oh god.

This was all his fault.

Quaking, Sans slowly dropped to his knees. Frisk sat down behind him and buried their head in their arms. He breathed in, and slowly out, again and again, but it did nothing to calm him down.

“This is all my fault.” He whispered. He felt Frisk tense and shake their head, no.

“Kiddo, if I had let the timeline play out like normal, then none of this would have happened. I got so used to the resets… so used to reliving the same week… I forgot that my actions could have consequences. If I hadn’t been with you, then you would’ve seen the lab before we even left the Underground. None of this would have happened.”

He looked up when he felt their hand on his shoulder.

***you can’t blame yourself, Sans. It was my fault too. I should’ve known, I’ve lived this place so many times before.*** their hands shook and there were still tears running down their cheeks, but they evaporated quickly in the volcanic heat. ***I should’ve known, I should’ve known. I forgot about consequences too. I just wanted to get back to them but…*** they took a shaky breath and looked down at the bridge, and then passed it, eyes glazed so they didn’t burn on the magma below.

It seemed they were thinking the same thing.

It was still his fault, though.

On the other side of the bridge, near Sans’ old sentry station, the amalgamates made strange whining sounds. At first, Sans thought they were grieving, but after a moment, the sounds became a frantic, terrified squeal; monotonous and piercing. He looked up at them, but they were looking behind him.

* ̡̛le͟t̴́ ̷̛t҉h҉e͜m͡ re͟͠s̛ęt̴̕.̡͞

There was a flickering image of a shadow on the lab side of the bridge. It made a move to come closer, but seemed to start to drip and fall apart, so it stayed still. Frisk regarded it solemnly, and Sans struggled to remember where he had heard that voice before.

*̛͢p̴͟l͏̸e̶͠a̧s͟͝e͘͡,̕͠͏ ͟͞Sàn̵҉҉s̷̸,͡ ̡̛le͟t̴́ ̷̛t҉h҉e͜m͡ re͟͠s̛ęt̴̕.̡͞

White hands came from the shadow and signed quickly, but he didn’t understand the movements. They weren’t like Frisk’s. there were holes in the palms of the hands.

***what do you want?*** Frisk asked slowly, and the hands hesitated.

***do you need help? We can help you. What do you want?***

Leave it to Frisk to want to help the creepy, vaguely familiar shadow that neither of them could really understand.

* _̴Y̸o͡u̶ ̵҉m̡̛ư̢͠ş̶͘t͞҉ ͘͜r͏̶e̸̛séţ.͡ ͠͝T҉̶h́i͘s̷̢҉ ̷҉timeline_ ͘͡i̶s͟҉̀ ͞͏̶ṕ̛o̧i̡͡so̶҉n̸̴͘.́ ̸̛Į͠t̸̢͢ ̛͢įs̶̢̛ f̸a̡l̴̀li̴ng̴̛ ̧̨͞i̛n̨͜͜t̸o̷̢͢ ͝th̢̕͟e̷͢ ͏͘͡h͢͟ąn̸͠d̴͠s̶̡ ̛͡ò͢f͏ ̸̧ _entropy_. T͞h́e̵̸r̡͘e͜͠ a̵re҉̷ d̀a҉҉ỳ̕͜s̵ ͟҉l͘͞é͢ft̨͡,͜͟ ýo͘͘u̶ m͘u̴͟͠ş́ţ͏ ̛re̸̵sè̵͘t̢҉̶ ͜͞or̨͞͞ ̨it̕ ͘w͡͏i̵l̨̡͠l̨ ̡͞a͞͏͠l̀l̷̡ ̷̢͘f̶̨͜a͘lĺ̡ ̵ínt̸̛͢o ͘͜͢t̸͟h̶͞e̢͘͢ ̀ _void_.

Whatever it was trying to convey sounded important. Talks of entropy and the void usually were. It was a shame he couldn’t understand what was being said.

“That’s a very interesting point, Gaster. I like your thinking. I don’t know _̸w̨͢͠h͠a͏̵t͟_ ̨͞͝my siblings were thinking when they told us not to reset. But they are pretty blind, you know?”

The shadow seemed startled at the sudden appearance of Cade. They looked around with their sharp smile as they walked towards them. They seemed a little antsy.

“nice place you fell into here. The whole lava pit of doom thing really pulls the “new home” feeling together.”

The shadow stiffened as Cade came to a stop next to it, and a white, cracked face formed near the top of the form. Its smile was fixed and strained. The black shadows that made up its body flickered and oozed.

“oh don’t look at me like that, Gaster, I thought we all got on good terms! I mean, besides that one crazy god and all her eyes, we’re the only people you ever got to see in the void! Haven’t you gone crazy without us?”

*d̵̵e̵͞spit͜è͜͠ ̶̛̖ͥ̌͊́̽K̼͉͉̩͒͗ͣ̉̈́͌ͨ͆ͭ͡ͅa̩͈͍̱̓n̢̥̰ͪͯ̅͛̿ͅu͎̻̺ͦ̇͟͢k͕̩̰̪̈́͒͝ͅe̝͌͆̂͜t͔͈̙͋͂̍ ̧̀͘a̷n͢d̛ ̵̡hęŗ ͏͘de̴̶͟s̴̶͠t̸͜r̵̸u̵̵͟c҉͟͟t͢͟͡iv͏̢͡e̛͜ ̢̢p̴̧̛lans҉,̨͡ ̛Ì̧ á̢͠m̵ ̷̕f͠͠ína͟l̷̢͘l̷̡y̕ ̧̢a͟͡t҉͢ ̸̛́p͠҉e̷̴͞ác̸͟͡e̷ ͡wi̷t́̀h̵͡ơ̛̕u̕͞t̴ ̡y̵͡ó̕͡u̴͝ ̀f̨ò̢͠u̸͜͝ŗ.͏ ̶̨W҉̢h̷a̷t̀ ͏h̨a̧vé҉ ̛y͟o̧҉̡u͘͟͞ ́͝d͢͢ón͏e̶̸͡ w̧i̵̛͜t͏h̶̸̴ ͠S̸͞a͞n͏s̷͜?͝͏

Cade put a hand to their chest and gasped, as if offended.

“You wound me, sir! You think I did something to Sans? Don’t you know me at all? Memory is all Rafae’s work, not mine.”

*̛̖ỳ̡̖͔̜o̳͡u̡ͅ ͔͎̦͝f͚̤̦ǫ̺̱̟̥̬̹̭u̮͠r̗̩̘̼̺͝ ̴͏̝a̶̧̮͜ͅr͏̷͖̮̤͞e̻̩ ͚̠̼͘t̙͜ͅh͔͔͢ḙ̡̨̝͇̳͖̥ ͎͎̖͇͓́s͏͉̩̠̩͔a̯̘̼m̧̡̖̰̬̪̳͙͔̝e̢̖̬̤͚̭ ̥̮̤̻̳̹͕p̡̩̤̺̹̘̳̞e̢̩͓̘̰̰͍̗͜r̸̫͙̫̻̝͜s҉̡͙̞̫͔͉̲̫͜o͎̮͚ń̤̳͎̥̣̜͘.

Cade laughed as a rip in space appeared behind them and the other three siblings stepped out of it. Fedir closed the rip and their mouth just barely twitched into a tiny smile when she saw the shadow Cade called “Gaster.”

Why was that name so familiar?

*̞̪̠̣̫͔̯͘͝o̖͔̺̹͢ẖ̨̜̳̙̜̗͇ ̛͖̖͙̪́͢g̲͇̹̮͡ͅŗ̶̧̣̺̣͔̜̭e̛͢҉̦a̛͚̞͟͟t҉̜̣̫̬.̴̳͓.̤̞̪̝̰̗.̡͏͍̖͉͎̺

“Gaster! Would ya look at that!” Dempsey cheered. “how’s the god in the void?”

 

*ş̢̎ͩ̚͞h̴̴̃͋̌e̸͂'̴̿̃́͢ŝ̕ ̿ͩ̑̓̾̓͐̂͏͏b̵̵ͧ̍͝ë̶ͭ̇ͥ̂͛͠t̶ͣͩ͡tͬͫ͜͡e̶̓͒̏̀r̵̨̂ͥͪ̀ ͛͑̓ͭ͂̕w̛̄͑͐̃ͥ̍͘͡i̡̍̆ͪ̅͐̊̋̅͟t̶ͥͭ̔̐̋͂͘h͋̍̽͋̋̄̽ͦ͠ö̶́ͦ́uͥ͠͠t̢̋͑͝ ͥͩͩͣ̚̚̚y͂̆͗͆̄͒ͬǫ͛ͬ̿̈ͯ͒͜͞uͪ͌͆̃͛̐ͣ̚͜҉ ̸̈́̾͌̕a͆ͤ̾ͨ͋́͜͜l̍̎ͦͩ̒̅͝l̋ͧͮ̾ͦ͜͞ ̛͐ͧ̌̚̚̕t͗͗̎ͩ̏̍̓͢o̧̓̑̅ͨ̓͊r̎̐ͤ̀ͬ̊̍̔́҉m̑̀ͮ̅̚҉́͢ę́̓͊͌͗̑͝n̸ͥ̊ͭͥt̸̛͌ͬ̓ͭ̓̈ͫͥ̐͡í͊̾͠n̆͆̀͟g̴̷ͪ̈́͒ͯ͋̽̑ ̇͘h̵̢͒̓͆́ȇ̶̍r̵̵ͮ͗̔̓͋̈̈ͩ.ͫͨ́͐͗͡ ̋ͦ͛ͭ͌̔ͧS̛̛̐͠h̸ͯ̔ͫẻ̉̓̈̀̚ ͨͭ͊̃́̚҉h̿̀̕ą̧ͯͯͭ̇͠s̷̨̊͆͛ͭ̿͗̏̾ͤnͨ͂ͮͣͫ̈ͧ̶ͯͧt̉̋ͬ̑̕͜͡ ̴͑̑̅̚͟͟ḋ̷̅̅̍͊ͨ̔͘e͗͐̇ͤ̎s͊̏̃͌̓ͦͥ̀t̸͗͆͋ͬ͘r̆͆̋oͤ̚҉yͩ̒̒̅̏̅̓̚̕͜ę̍̄̑̒ͤ̍ͧ͛d̉̓͗͢ ̷̊͂̋͋͒̎͋͗̈́h͌́̃̈́̒̃̕͡e̵ͭͦ̑ͮ̿ͭͦ͐͐͜r̔ͮͫ̈̀ ̡ͪ̀ͥ͞ḩ̷́ͪͪ͠ôm̧ͬͮ͒ͨ͐̅̀eͧ̃̿ͬ͐̕ ͆̑͗̋̍̋̑͢d̶̶̑͑̈̆̚i̇͋̓ͯ̎ͫ̃̂̍́̕͜m͂̅ͨ̄eͬ͋̀ͩ̀̒҉́nͦ̍ͭͣͧ͒ͣs̛͆ͣ̈͝i̽̈ͯ͠ǒ̢̅̚͠nͫ̚͜ ́̂̂͢ỹ̸͂̓͂̄͘e̛͌͑͝t͛̃̑ͫͣͤͫ͒͠҉.̸ͧ̿͛͆ͫ̿ͪ̋҉

Dempsey laughed and Rafae chuckled lightly, almost sounding nervous.

 

*W̾̓ͯͫ͏̛hͥ̾ͬͥ̑ͫ̏ͨ͟aͭ͒ͫ̑̅t͒͑̓̊͐͂̍̄͘͡ ͯ̽ͫ͐̔́̀͠d͐̅̂ͯ͋͐̓͜i̴̶̧̍̾d̂ͨ̄͂ͧ̿̚ ̉ͨ̄ͤͫͤ͒͋y͑ͤ̇̃̀ǫ̷̆̆̓̃ͪ͂͌̚u̴̡̨͋̓̈́ ̸̄ͨ͊ͧ͊d̢̐̒ͮ͟͠o̸̸̍͂͌ͩͥ̓ ̧́͞t̓̑ͪ҉ǫͪ͑͂́ͨ _ͣ͐͌͆̌Sans_?

“You mean his memories aren’t back, even though he sees you?” Rafae asked quietly.

Frisk looked at Sans curiously. He shrugged, and they frowned.

“Oooh no…” Rafae was whispering to themselves, “Oh god, it was supposed to help him, why did I do that?” he grabbed his head and shook, and Dempsey patted their back.

“Now, see here, everybody,” Cade spoke up suddenly, sounding just a bit too proud of themselves. “this right here is a perfect example of a shit timeline. This string is shit brown in the mesh of the whole of reality. If the strings made a picture, this string would be the color of rotting ground. It’s also ending, just like Gaster said. Three days, tops.”

***what do you mean? Ending?*** Frisk asked, because Sans suddenly felt like he couldn’t form words. He couldn’t tell if it was because of the weirdly familiar shadow, or the fact he was suddenly getting some semblance of an answer from the quadruplets.

“Well, when you’ve been around as long as things like us, Frisk, you’ll understand better. In one timeline, you do get to know it! But that timeline is grey and gross to look at. I don’t like it.”

“Basically,” Fedir continues, sending a glare to Cade, who just shrugs smugly. “We’ve been around since the beginning of the universe, in every universe. We’ve changed a little, but for the most part, the only thing that changes is our capacity for storing knowledge. That being said, we have seen the rise and fall of every known dimension. We are, in fact, seeing that as we speak. But Dempsey already told you that, didn’t they?”

Sans nodded dumbly as Frisk sat, enraptured by the explanation. He didn’t notice the way Gaster was flickering steadily in and out of existence.

“Right. We’ve seen timelines and dimensions die. We’ve seen them be born. All the while, we’ve traveled a void-scape we were trapped in for much of our “early” life.”

“We don’t know how long it was, time doesn’t hold much use to us.” Dempsey spoke up quietly, and Fedir nodded.

“Time doesn’t make sense to beings who will never die. There’s just no use for it. That’s why our time apart from you in this timeline did not trouble us as much as it troubled you. When we already know that you will come, counting the hours and days and years is pointless.”

***why did you say this timeline is ending?*** Sans was pretty damned grateful for that kid.

“Each time you reset, you create a split timeline.”

“Imagine taking a piece of string and separating the smaller threads from it until there are a thousand microscopic strings breaking off from each other. That’s what you did to reality when you decided to mess with time. And then we decided to mess with it, so we did some of that too.” Cade added, only semi-helpfully. Thinking about microscopic strings made Sans’ skull hurt.

“Right. And timelines end eventually. Some last for billions upon trillions of years, some for five minutes. It really just depends. But if a timeline ends with a void creature living in it, the timeline will implode and take down the dimensions closest to it. Have you heard of black holes? They’re really quite nasty, they make terrible dinner company. But there are leviathans that live inside of them, and those are the culmination of void creatures trapped in an ended timeline. They are lonely, scared, and bloodthirsty. It doesn’t matter who they once were, they are dead set on destroying other timelines.” Fedir looked at their nails, at Rafae, and then back to Sans and Frisk. “Imagine us as four raging giants living inside of black holes and dead set on turning you into dust to feed the cores of newly-born stars.”

“Sounds pretty romantic to me.” Sans finally said, after a significant gulp of hot air.

“we could escape and never look back.” Rafae finally said, still shaking from before. “We’ve done it countless times before. It wouldn’t bother us. But that would be unfair to Solomon. We’ve only ever made contact with him in one other branch, and it would be selfish to make him take care of us every time. If you reset here, we don’t need to worry about messing up his other lives.”

“wow, kids, you sure are a couple of selfless deities.” Sans said sarcastically. Fedir shot him a glare and Rafae swayed as he shook.

“Solomon is the only being to ever show us any form of unconditional love.” Fedir snapped, “If it weren’t for him, you wouldn’t like us. If it weren’t for him, his own family would have cast us out. Solomon is the only force of good we have ever been able to interact with.

"You have seen kindness and yet you still work hard to protect that human, do you not?” they pointed at Frisk, and Sans nodded slowly. “So you understand, in a way.” He nodded a little more vigorously.

Cade seemed upset they weren’t getting enough attention, and threw their arm around Fedir’s shoulders to make their presence known, and just to interrupt.

“There are more universes out there in the fabric of reality than you can even fathom, Sans. The amount of universes with you and your friends makes up a tiny portion of the big picture. In most, monsters like you and Mettaton and even that Froggit I saw the other day, don’t exist. Many universes are simply just the outcome of a choice. One day you turn right on the way to work, and a new universe splits from that, where you turn left, or go back home to take a nap.” They huffed, “Some are completely different. They can get weird, with null timelines, where nothing ever lives, but the galaxies go on as if everything is fine. I once saw a world get eaten whole by a dimension-specific space-whale. They were giant whales that live in space, but I’ve only ever seen them once. Imagine that- Sans, Frisk- there is a species of whale that is far more unique in the face of reality than any of you or your friends put together.”

***What are you trying to get at, Cade?***

“glad you asked, Frisk-o. I was getting to it.”

Dempsey spoke up before Cade could continue their rant.

“What we mean to say, is that if there are all these endless possibilities, there are bound to be horrid, gruesome timelines. They are not as uncommon as you may think. The good often outweighs the bad, but the start and end of things are normally very high-risk areas. We are coming to the end of a very bad timeline.”

“You act like everyone died. I would know, I’ve lived that.”

“There are fates worse than death, Sans. That, you should also know. To be left the only one alive, for instance.” Dempsey sighed, making their shirt puff out with the gust of air. Sans wasn’t sure if he would ever get used to their appearance. Fedir and Rafae, he could handle. Cade was an ass, but looked relatively normal. Dempsey seemed to have gotten the short end of every stick. “This is a sick timeline. Ever since we reset, there has been a cancerous leech sucking it dry. We knew it would be there, and we weren’t sure why it took root. We wanted to mess with it, to see how it would react to certain situations. That’s why we told you to stay away. But just look at what it’s done.” They gestured to the abandoned core around them.

“what does monsters leaving the core have to do with a sick timeline?” Sans asked, feeling confused and tired. For a moment, he thought he felt something tug down on his jacket.

“not all the monsters left, correct? Some felt more at home underground. Some felt safer. Some were afraid of humanity and fled back down.”

“well yeah, but it’s been so long.”

“Have you ever seen core monsters living on the surface? The ones like Pyrope, who preferred the intense heat of the magma?”

“no, Pyropes get uncomfortable in the cold.”

“then why has the Core been empty for six years?” he blinked. “why has this machine been rotting from the inside out for six years? Why is it collecting dust, where it once housed monsters of all kinds?” they got closer and whispered, “where are the monsters, Sans?”

“I…” he stopped, blinked, tried to think of something to say, but his mind had gone blank. There weren’t monsters in the Core? No… besides the amalgamates, the place was abandoned. Why? Why? Why? The word repeated in his head, rolling around but finding no purchase, no traction to get him anywhere. He was at a loss. Something tugged down on his jacket. He was at a loss.

“Sans, I know you are just getting your head wrapped around my first point but I have a very important question that I need you to answer.” Dempsey was kneeling in front of him. When did they get there? They leaned forward slowly and whispered, so faint for such a large mouth.

“Sans, tell me. Where is the magma?”

He narrowed his eye sockets at them. It must’ve been a trick question. He could see fine, so of course there was magma below them. But even with the thought that Cade would make fun of him for looking, he glanced down.

There was certainly something down there.

It pulsed with orange light, and flowed, and gave off a thick heat.

But it wasn’t magma.

Whatever was below them lightly pulled down on his jacket with a gravitational pull.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My favorite part of writing the kids is when they get metta and start talking about other timelines and universes I've created ;3c


	17. Hopefully this timeline will be a little more relaxed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the weirdness from last chapter is wrapped up and a new timeline shows up. Frisk and Sans rescue the kids.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i think I have the rest of the story planned out, I'm aiming to end on a nice even 20 Chapters!

Sans could have puked, if he had the stomach for it.

When they were talking about a cancer in the timeline, leeching off of something, he hadn’t thought they meant it literally.

He could have described it as a sea, but that wouldn’t properly describe how disgusting it was to see the moving, twitching, melting body of a swollen leech far below, sucking away at a rip in reality. There seemed to be no end to the creature, as it just seemed to melt and reform over and over, in different areas. There were thousands of eyes all over it, looking like giant red welts and hives. With each drag on the tear at its round, dripping maw, the rip would grow, and more flesh melted or congealed. Once or twice, it seemed as if there were arms reaching up at him from the inside. Like there were people inside, alive, and trying desperately to get out.

Sans retched, but he didn’t have a stomach to empty.

He couldn’t tear his gaze from the leech, but his disgusted noise seemed to have gotten its attention.

Every single one of its welted, red eyes was on him.

“that leech has been there the whole time. It was small at first, with a tear the size of a needle point.” Cade said, their smile not quite reaching their words. “It has been sucking the life force of this timeline dry. I’ve seen the fates of other timelines that wind up with them, and it’s disgusting. When the tear gets big enough, it’ll spread through the world slowly, like a plague. Things that touch it implode slowly. Time gets weird the closer you get to it. My point is, that it’s gonna get uncontrollable in a few days, and we need to reset. But we aren’t total demons. We want you to give the go ahead before we do.”

Sans watched the kids with a guarded expression. This wasn’t something he expected. They were a bunch of asshole children who did whatever they wanted. Why would they need his permission to do something like this?

“We aren’t as bad as you initially think, Sans.” Dempsey said quietly, “We don’t understand many human or monster emotions. It’s a consequence from living as long as we have. Even the odd god trapped in the void isn’t as old as us, yet she hit the ceiling thousands of years ago. At least we can look at humans without immediately wanting to murder them.”

“We didn’t want you or Frisk waking up in the underground, without knowing why.” Rafae sighed. They had finally calmed down, and ran a hand through their green hair. Sans got a glimpse of the smooth, veined skin where their eyes should have been. He and Frisk stared at them in shock. He could tell Frisk and their big heart was quickly warming up to this side of the kids, but he wasn’t convinced of their intentions. Rafae continued when neither of them said anything. “Fedir and Cade lack impulse control. The last reset, they knew what would happen, and wanted to get started messing with the leech as soon as possible, but didn’t consider the consequences of their actions. They still haven’t, really. But with Dempsey and I, they can try to understand. For Solomon, we try to understand.”

Sans sighed and looked to Frisk. They looked ecstatic about the kid’s omission.

***At least you’ve found a reason to try. That’s what’s important. When you reset, can we find you and the Hawthornes as soon as we can? No waiting around?***

“I wouldn’t suggest running off to find them. Even they were weary of monsters when they first showed up. After Bryce becomes a part of the picture would be best.” Fedir said.

***when was that?***

The kids shared a glance, and seemed to be pondering something. After a moment, Fedir looked back at Frisk with a surprisingly gentle expression.

“We’ve got a plan. What’s your phone numbers?”

* * *

 

Sans didn’t help with the next timeline. He didn’t want to risk giving that leech a chance to grow, so he followed the rules to the last mark. Frisk understood. They didn’t want any trouble either. Though they did admit the adventure was a little lonely without him there.

He appreciated them so much.

It played out as smoothly as the others before it, and in the usual three days, he was looking out over the familiar sunset.

Now started a tricky waiting game that had to go correctly, or else their chances of meeting their friends again would fade away.

* * *

 

The first month, monsters were met with panic. Frisk had learned to be quite the ambassador from their many tries, so they were already prepared for all the trouble. If there was one good thing about the last reset, it was that Frisk’s maturity had grown exponentially, and they were able to understand where many politicians and world leaders were coming from when they panicked. Sans was pretty proud of them, especially when the adult humans who met Frisk often remarked on their worldly knowledge.

Being able to relate to the adults in power vastly helped Frisk gain rights faster for monsters, but it didn’t solve everything. Their living conditions were sub-par, humans cowered when they walked down the street. Their sudden integration, plus some extra protection Frisk weaseled in, caused the rise of hate groups to slow, but they still popped up.

By month two, Muffet had started up a bakery on the surface, and it had already been vandalized three times. She couldn’t do anything drastic to fight off the vandals, or their peace agreements would be flushed, but that didn’t stop her from making threats under her breath when she cleaned graffiti, or replaced shattered windows.

Even so, there seemed to be more scared people than angry. Sans couldn’t remember if it really had been like this before, and he had just been too angry to see it, or if this was entirely new behavior. Maybe, the kids had done something.

He reminded himself to ask them about it the next time he saw them. If they were responsible, he’d give them a pat on the back.

Month three was the kicker. Months of working hard for monster rights paid off when, on the same day the president signed a bill to allow monsters to spread out to other states, Sans and Frisk each got a call at the same time, from the same number. They didn’t even think twice about it. Mid celebration party, they went outside to answer the calls.

Frisk tapped on the microphone as a hello as Sans pushed the answer button for his own phone.

“hey kiddos.”

“Hi Sans, Frisk-o!” Cade’s cheery voice echoed back through both phones. There was a scuffling sound on the other end, and a shout that sounded like Rafae.

Frisk grimaced. They hated phone calls, they couldn’t ask what was going on. Luckily, Sans was there.

“What’s up? You kids ok?”

“Oh, we will be. This little fight always happens. I _could_ delete these assholes like I usually do, but that would take away your chance of getting on Solomon’s good side.” They grunted and there were more sounds of a struggle before they got back to the phone. “We’ve considered this on all levels, and this is the moment you can make the best impact on his life. Saving us from a street gang will put you in pretty high regards. These guys are nasty, and this is one of the fights where Rafae’s teeth get knocked out.”

“Where are you guys?”

“remember that park you first saw us at? Where Solomon had been fighting some people? Yeah. That one. Maybe we should stopping coming here, but it’s got a great slide.”

“alright, we’ll be there soon.”

Frisk tapped their microphone again before hanging up and looking at Sans.

“let’s tell your mom. Can’t have her freaking out about kidnappers just when things are looking up.”

Frisk nodded and they both raced inside to find Toriel.

* * *

 

They hadn’t even tried lying to Toriel. Just explaining that some of Frisk’s friends were in trouble had her worrying and telling Sans to go help in any way he could. She rushed off to get Undyne, Papyrus, and Alphys, who would come in as reinforcements, if need be.

With just a little concentration, since Sans hadn’t been to that park in a long, long time, they were able to teleport to help the kids.

It was dark, but the scuffle going on was easy to spot, what with the sparks flying and all. At least, Sans thought those were sparks. There were multi-colored glowing specks flying into the air above a group of about six people, both men and women dressed in darker colors. One man was launched back a few feet by Rafae slamming their entire body mass into him. Being the beefiest of the quadruplets, it was no wonder they had that much propulsion power.

Sans didn’t have to get any nearer than twenty feet before he could lift all of the attackers and toss them aside a few feet. One woman screeched the whole time. She had a pretty impressive set of lungs.

He and Frisk were casual as they wandered up to the kids, who were picking themselves up out of the dirt and grass. Cade smiled wide enough for the four of them.

“Sup kiddos?”

A cold wind swept by and Frisk shivered. The weather was slow on taking on the idea of Spring, it seemed. It was mid March, and still threatening to snow.

“Sans! Frisk! Lookit you!” Dempsey cheered, “we were expecting you, but still. It’s nice to see you again, in this timeline, interacting with us.” Their mouth was in full view, since they were wearing a crop top, and it frowned and shifted as if uncomfortable. “I mean… you are in this timeline, right? Or am I talking to myself again?”

“We’re here, kiddo. Where’s that guardian of yours?”

“Solomon will be here. About seven minutes.” Fedir said, watching the poorly made princess watch on their arm.

“In the mean time, we were hoping to get some things straight.” Sans didn’t expect to get threatened by Rafae, yet here they were, glowering at him and Frisk as if he had been the one to set the attackers on him in the first place.

***Is something wrong?***

“we know you guys love Solomon’s family. It’s a very easy thing to do. But understand that if something happens to them in any timeline, we will not reset. We don’t care if it is Sidney, or Corie or Seamus or even Solomon. People die all the time and you can’t expect us to fix that. It’s against our nature.”

“Why are you telling us this now?”

“Just cause.” Cade said, “Also, you need to know that to keep this timeline peaceful, you should flirt with as many humans you come across. That goes to both of you now! I’m tellin’ you, skell, you gotta get some!” Cade giggled, and footsteps approached.

“Kids! What are you doing out so late? What’s wrong-“

Solomon came up short as he stared at Frisk and Sans, panting with his hands on his knees.

“Who’re you?”

“I… we-“

“Solomon! This spooky skeleton guy and his human friend chased some mean people away from us! There’s a pile of bodies in pain to prove it!” Dempsey butted in, gesturing to the pile of people in black, slowly getting up and rubbing at their heads. A few shot them dirty looks.

Solomon looked at the attackers viciously for a moment before turning back to Sans and Frisk.

“I can’t thank you enough. My kiddos are a bit of a handful, but they’re my handful, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. If something had happened to them, i…” he seemed to lose his train of thought then shook his head and smiled at Sans and Frisk.

***I’m Frisk, this is Sans! Nice to meet you and the kids!***

“yeah? I’m glad, most people would be weirded out by them.”

***My mom’s a goat, and my uncles are just bones, I think that’s plenty weird.*** they giggled silently and Solomon’s smile grew.

“weird? That’s ludicrous. Are you sure you aren’t the lead in some sort of sitcom? Of Monsters and Me?”

***Monster-Full House?***

“M.O.N.S.T.E.R.S?”

Sans was pretty lost, but he could let his humans have their fun. The quadruplets were giggling about something that Dempsey was signing, but their signs were strange and Sans couldn’t make them out in the dark.

They stopped when Toriel’s van screeched to a stop at the edge of the park. Solomon became guarded. But Toriel, Undyne, Alphys, and Paps ran out towards them and Frisk waved gleefully. Solomon glanced between Frisk and Toriel, and by the time she called out, “My child!” he had seemed to piece them together.

***Solomon, this is my family! Toriel is my mom, that’s aunty Alphys and Undyne, and Uncle Papyrus!***

“Awe jeez, you guys are precious.” Solomon grinned and wiped at his face – was he crying? He sniffed loudly, and reached out for Toriel’s large paw. “Pleasure to meet you, ma’am, I’m Solomon Hawthorne… these two just saved my kids, I’m really grateful.”

“Oh my, Frisk said something about their friends being in trouble, and I just couldn’t stand by! I’m glad they are doing alright.”

“Friends? I don’t think I’ve seen you, have I?”

***I met Dempsey and Rafae at the park a few days ago and gave them my phone number. It was _supposed_ to be flirting, but I guess this is an okay outcome too.* **Frisk quickly replied, and Solomon nodded with a small “Oooh,” and a chuckle.

“Well I gotta admit, I guess we should thank flirting for saving my kids.”

Toriel chuckled and nodded. Undyne, Alphys, and Papyrus had been keeping their distance, but when she looked at Solomon approvingly, Papyrus leapt forward to introduce himself with his usual enthusiasm.

“HELLO HUMAN! I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS! WE HAVE NOT MET MANY HUMANS BESIDES THE ONES WHO WORK WITH THE GOVERNMENT, WHAT DO YOU DO? ARE YOUR KIDS MONSTERS?”

Solomon seemed surprised by Papyrus’s loud voice, but he managed to reply with no more than a slight quiver to his voice. “nice to meet you, you’re Frisk’s uncle? I’m um… I’m an artist, I carve tree sculptures, and I’ve been looking into interior design… my kids aren’t really… um…”

“hey paps, maybe calm down a little?” Sans said, when Solomon began getting unsure of his voice. Solomon seemed surprised but relieved.

“OH! I AM-” he stopped, cleared his throat, and continued in a slightly calmer voice, “I Am Sorry, Human, I Forget That Some Humans Are Sensitive To Loud Sounds, Like My Fantastic Voice! I Did Not Mean To Scare You!”

“Oh, no, it’s okay, you just startled me. You don’t have to lower your voice if it’s what comes naturally to you.”

“Nonsense! I Will Treat It As A Training Excersize For My Voice! I Should Practice Speaking Quietly So It Is Not Difficult In The Future!”

“nice thinking, Paps. You’re pretty cool about this.” Sans said, and Papyrus puffed his chest out.

“BUT OF COURSE! A Good Royal Guard Knows That He Must Train At All Times!”

With that, Papyrus jumped over to the quadruplets and greeted them with as much force as he did Solomon, quickly managing to drop his quiet voice. Undyne and Alphys made their introductions to Solomon, and when Undyne went to join Papyrus, Alphys started a conversation with Solomon about how stressful it could get when Undyne and Papyrus worked together. Solomon relaxed around her and admitted to how much trouble the kids could get into. Sans, Frisk, and Toriel stood back and enjoyed the sight of new and old friends bonding. Frisk eventually ran off to bug Fedir, but they gave him an overjoyed smile before doing so.

“Sans, did you meet the kids Frisk made friends with before?” Toriel asked softly, eyeing the odd kids.

“Kinda, yeah. Dempsey is the purple haired one, and Rafae has green hair and tusks.”

“May I ask what they are? They do not have either monster or human souls.”

“Well, I didn’t take a look at their souls,” he could’ve slapped himself. How had he never thought about looking for their soul previously? It seemed like a pretty good idea. “but I’m pretty sure they’re neither. They’ve all got some sort of omnipotence.”

“how did that sweetheart Solomon get to be taking care of them? It seems like an odd match to this old goat…”

“no _kidding_?”

Toriel snorted and covered her eyes. “Sans, oh dear… that was terrible.”

“SANS! YOUR MAJESTY! ARE YOU TWO MAKING PUNS AGAIN? IN FRONT OF OUR NEW FRIENDS NO LESS?” Papyrus cried, making Toriel giggle. “I Apologize, Fluffy Human, Odd Children, Those Two Always Make The Worst Jokes!”

Solomon looked at Papyrus like he was the goddamned sun.

“New friends?”

“Of Course! We Are Friends, Are We Not? Sans, We Are Friends With The Fluffy Human And Odd Children, Right?”

Sans glanced at Solomon’s awe-struck expression and gave a soft chuckle. “I think that’s his decision. He should be able to think about it. After all, if he was our friend, he’d have to listen to all my terrible jokes.” He shrugged, but watched Solomon hopefully.

He shook himself out of his daze and nodded vigorously. “Your jokes aren’t that bad, they’re tolera _bone_. And of course I’d like to be friends. The kids like you all, so I like you all.” Papyrus looked conflicted about yelling about his attempt at a pun, and cheering at his declaration of friendship. He wound up jumping up with a cheer and walking in half excited, half angry circles. Solomon laughed and grinned down at Alphys, who laughed when they made eye contact.

“I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but we should get back. It’s close to Frisk’s bedtime. Solomon, do you live nearby? Should I give you and your kids a ride home?” Toriel asked.

“Oh, no, we are nearby. It was nice meeting you all.” He said. He and Alphys had sat down to continue their talk, so he stood up and brushed dirt off his pants before holding his hand out to Toriel. She shook his hand gently and passed him a slip of paper.

“If you need anything, just call. And I mean anything, sweetie.”

“oh, uh, okay.” He stared at her number as they loaded up into the minivan, but he stopped them just as Undyne was closing the sliding door. “Hey, um, guys?”

“Yeah, punk?” Undyne asked with a tone similar to the one she used when Alphys was nervous.

“my family is having a dinner party next week, and they said I could invite friends… I don’t have a lot of people besides them in my life, and my sister’s bringing her new boyfriend, and I was just gonna go with just the kids this time, but um… I was wondering, do you… would you…”

“Would you like us to come, Sweetie?” Toriel asked gently, and he nodded without looking at any of them. He looked guilty for asking. “What do you think, guys?” she asked the rest of them. They all grinned, and Toriel turned back to Solomon with a smile. “how about you text me the plans?”

It seemed like he was about ready to sob, as he smiled wide and laughed a little in shock. “really? Oh my god, my mom’s gonna be so proud, I’ve never brought anyone to our monthly dinners.”

“Well punk, you better tell your folks to prepare themselves! Cause we are party monsters!” Undyne shouted as the side door slid shut, making him laugh.

They drove away from the park with smiles on their faces and plans for a human dinner party. Frisk turned around in their seat up front to look at Sans, but he was already asleep, leaning against his brother, wearing the most content smile they had seen him with in a long time.


	18. Just a Really Coal Party, Ya Know?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things are good. its the type of good that ISN'T interrupted by four void children being terrible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i would say something like "whats up sinners", but the only sin here is not updating for over 2 months. the end of the school year had me more busy than i anticipated and i didn't have much will to write.
> 
> but now I'm out of high school for good, and I should be able to finish this thing before I head off to college (I hope) i know exactly what to do for the next chapters, and now i actually have time to work on them.

Sans had met the Hawthornes in other timelines plenty of times by now. But never like this. He had never seen them in this context. It was… eye opening.

Corie cried out in anguish when Undyne beat her, once again, at arm wrestling. Bryce was worrying over her shoulder, muttering about hearing a crack, and Sidney was laughing at her daughter’s fifth failure. Neil had hidden himself out of sight in the kitchen to finish baking dessert.

There was no way Sans could have prepared for this.

The week prior had been busy with peace meetings, and Sans had thought the dinner would be a nice time to relax after the stressful work of getting rights. How wrong. Even so, he wouldn’t have traded this for all the resets in the world.

Frisk ran up to where he sat on one of the living room couches and grabbed his leg.

“what’s up boss?”

Frisk smiled. They recently lost one of their front teeth, and wanted to show off the gap at any chance possible. It made him and Papyrus a little uncomfortable, since Skeletons didn’t lose teeth like other monsters, but they persevered.

***are you having fun?***

“you know it.” He glanced at Solomon, who was sitting on the other side of the couch, laughing at something Alphys was saying. “I just don’t want to jinx it, you know?”

***The quadruplets said they wouldn’t reset for fun anymore. They get bored easily and I guess they got bored of living the same years over and over again.***

“so we’ve got at least twelve years?”

***I’m hoping we have forever.***

“That’s some nice thinking, kiddo.” He ruffled their hair and they giggled. Solomon glanced at them and smiled.

“Sans, have I thanked you yet?”

“more times than I can count, buddy.” It was true. Solomon had gotten his phone number from Toriel, and sent him at least five “thank you” messages a day, until the party. Solomon chuckled and glanced down, then back up.

“well you deserve all the thanks in the world. Those kids are my life. I hate it when they get hurt. Nobody’s ever helped them before.”

“awe jeez, you’re makin’ me blush. They are good kids, if you get passed their rough exteriors. Even they deserve to be treated well.”

“Heh… well…” Solomon rubbed the back of his head shyly and Frisk patted Sans’ knee urgently.

“what do you _kneed_ bud?”

They glared for a moment, and then a sly look crossed their face. ***get a room, you two.***

“Wh-what? Frisk, please…” Solomon covered his face, but Sans could see the tips of his ears, almost glowing red.

“I don’t know what you mean, boss. This is a room, right?”

***A private room, Sans!***

“why would we do that?” he grinned, “we wouldn’t get to party with you. Would you want to come with us?”

***Nooo! Darn it Sans!***

“well, what do you want from us?”

***jeez! Just kiss already!***

It was unfortunate that it was at that point that Solomon uncovered his face. He saw Frisk sign “kiss” and was reduced to a blubbering mess.

“I-I’m sorry, I-I-I gotta-a go get something. Don’t mind me, p-please.” He got up and shot down the hallway.

“Oh man, I haven’t seen Solomon get out of a room that fast since that party I threw senior year of high school.” Corie mused after a few beats of silence. “someone hit on him and he freaked out. He avoided the whole graduating class for two weeks. Poor little freshman baby…” She trailed off as if lost in thought, but then suddenly snapped back and glared at Sans. “What did you do?”

“hey now, it wasn’t me.”

“Corie, don’t blame him you know how sensitive Solomon can be.” Bryce said quietly. Corie nodded, but her glare didn’t let up.

***sorry, it was my fault, I thought he and Sans should kiss.***

Corie blinked down at Frisk, then burst out laughing. “Really? Oh sweetie, that’s adorable!” she came forward and kneeled down in front of Frisk to be eye level. “I pulled something similar when we were younger. He didn’t take well to it. Solomon just isn’t good at being attached to people that way so quickly. He prefers to make a strong friend bond with someone before he tries giving them a smooch.”

“I CAN UNDERSTAND WHY HE WOULD PREFER THAT!” Papyrus spoke up. He had just beat Sidney in a game of Connect Four, and the older woman had face-planted on the table. Papyrus casually patted her on the back in consolation. “I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, ALSO FEELS LIKE SMOOCHES WITH NO FEELING BEHIND THEM ARE SILLY! OLDER HUMAN, ARE YOU OKAY? YOU HAVE BEEN LYING ON YOUR FACE FOR QUITE A LONG TIME! DO YOU NEED MEDICAL ASSISTANCE?”

Sidney groaned and giggled at Papyrus. “I’m okay, Papy, I’ve just never been beat at Connect Four before. At least, not that fast. You are truly a puzzle master.”

Papyrus beamed and told her that she was a great opponent.

“yeah,” Coriander continued, “So he’s just a little overwhelmed right now. He’ll come out in a few minutes.”

***You sure?***

“It’s fine, buddy. I’ve grown up with him. I know how he works, even if he doesn’t.”

Frisk smiled and Neil shouted something from the kitchen. Sidney shot up and grinned.

“Oh! That’s right!” she scampered off to a back room, surprisingly nimble for her older age. A few minutes later, she came back with a big box and Solomon. He shyly glanced around and Sans shrugged at him casually, which seemed to help settle his nerves a little.

Corie dropped the box in the middle of the living room, and opened it up.

“Almost forgot tradition!”

Inside the box, was an innumerable amount of sweaters, in varying states of disrepair and ugliness. Corie reached in and grabbed a pink sweater with a Christmas tree almost glowing with neon yellow. The turtle neck was about three inches too long, and the sleeves went down only to her elbows. Solomon grabbed a murky green one that looked closer to a poncho than a proper sweater. There were tiny lights and bits of glitter sewn throughout the neck line.

When they noticed the monster’s confusion, Corie laughed and Solomon shrugged noncommittally.

“It’s a family tradition to wear ugly sweaters at dinners when it’s cold. Mom makes the best worst sweaters. It’s fun to wear them all together.”

Papyrus and Undyne, after hearing this, nearly attacked each other to get to the box.

“That’s the spirit!” Corie laughed, and Sans chuckled when Papyrus emerged with a toddler sized sweater, colored red with a big lopsided blue star and white cotton around the sleeves. It was truly hideous, but among sweaters in similar, or even worse states, it looked like the most comforting thing in the world. It was odd, how peer pressure worked.

After a few minutes, everyone was situated with an ugly sweater (Sans had found a dark blue one with a skull wearing a santa hat and made the obvious Sansta joke,) and were settled down in the living room for a few more minutes before dinner would be ready. Sidney, after donning an unfinished purple sweater, went to the kitchen to check on whatever it was she was making. Toriel followed after her in a green sweater that resembled more of a sack-dress than anything else.

“I’m glad you could make it, guys.” Solomon said after a moment, and Alphys nodded at him.

“w-we’re happy to! We’ve n-n-never been to a human p-party like this!”

“Yeah!” Undyne chimed in, “this rocks! These sweaters are awesome, and one of your kids beat ME at arm wrestling! That kid with the tusks is RAD!”

Solomon and Corie laughed lightly, and the quadruplets emerged from the back room.

“are you talking about us?” Cade asked, making Undyne jump in surprise.

“Damn! You four are on some next level spy shit!”

“Their lack of sight gives them better senses.” Corie said with a wave of her hand. “no eyes equals great ears, I guess.”

“No way, is that why your hair covers your faces? You don’t have eyes?”

The four looked at each other for a moment, then Rafae lifted his hair and Undyne jumped back.

“DAMN!”

“WOWIE, ODD CHILD! HOW DO YOU KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON AROUND YOU LIKE THAT?” Papyrus asked.

Rafae gave a non-committal shrug, “Magic?”

“I SEE, I WILL ATTEMPT THIS MAGIC YOU SPEAK OF AS WELL!”

Papyrus closed his eyes, held his hands out in front of him, took a step, and promptly tripped over his own chair.

“I WILL HAVE TO PRACTICE MORE, IT SEEMS!”

“yeah, your sure fell for that, didn’t you, paps?” Sans spoke up, and Papyrus took a few minutes to realize what he said.

“SANS PLEASE!”

“Dinner’s ready! Come to the dining room!” Sidney called out from the kitchen. Toriel lead them all to the table. The table was one fit for dinner parties, with the ability to become larger, the more people they had over. The quadruplets all sat closest to the honey glazed ham at the head of the table

They filed into their seats of choice, and Sidney brought out some mashed potatoes and a pan of Brussels sprouts. It all smelled delicious. Without any prompting, she handed Sans a bottle of ketchup, which startled both him and her. She gave him a confused look, to which he just popped the lid of the bottle a took a sip of the condiment. She laughed and shook her head before settling down next to Solomon and Frisk.

A good meal didn’t need conversation. If the food was good, talking would only make it harder to eat. That didn’t stop Papyrus and Undyne from bickering over the table about spaghetti care. Corie and Neil even picked up the argument a little bit, after the monsters mentioned never having any pasta besides spaghetti. They both wanted the monsters to try other things, the problem was when and where they would be taking them. Papyrus’s eyes were bright when Neil said he would take them all out to a fancy restaurant.

Down the table, Solomon’s conversation with Sidney caught Sans’ attention.

“Coal asked to meet me at the bakery tomorrow for practice.” Solomon said, picking at his sprouts.

“Oh! When are we gonna meet those monsters?” Sidney asked happily. “you certainly are a beacon for attention from them, aren’t you?”

There wasn’t any ill-intent in her words, only loving admiration to her son. Sans found it cute, until he realized that they weren’t the first monsters to interact with him. Besides the quadruplets, of course, but could he really count them?

“you know more monsters, Solomon?” Sans asked, making him look up quickly.

“Oh! Yeah… we’re starting a band, actually! It’s more of a hobby, but it’s fun, ya know?”

“yeah, sounds cool.” Sans looked over at Frisk, who sat between Sidney and Toriel, but they just shrugged, seemingly as confused as he was. He didn’t think that the band in the previous timelines had been made up of monsters. Maybe this was another anomaly.

“Solomon, you should take your new friends to meet your other friends! Maybe they know each other!” Sidney said happily, and Solomon chuckled with her.

“I think that’s up to Sans and the rest if they want to. And Coal and Flume if it’s ok with them to bring other people along.”

“well, I, for one, would be happy to meet your friends if it’s ok, Solomon. I’m sure Paps would be too, right bro?”

“What Was That, Sans?”

“wanna meet some of Solomon’s monster friends tomorrow?”

“Of Course! Any Friend Of My Friends Shall Be Friends With Me!”

“yeah, we’re in.”

Solomon smiled and continued to poke at his dinner until Sidney smacked his shoulder and told him to eat.

* * *

 

The dinner ended and for the next hour or so, they all sat outside, bundled up in their horrendous sweaters with tea or hot chocolate. They watched the stars through gaps in thick, snow-heavy clouds. It was cold, but it was comfortable with everyone there together.

Sans would’ve been more comfortable if Dempsey hadn’t chosen to stand right next to him and breathe heavily in his ear.

It wasn’t their fault, their torso-mouth always breathed heavily. But usually they were courteous enough to not stand so close to someone’s head. Even through their appalling neon green sweater, their mouth drooled a little on his shoulder. He didn’t know why they wouldn’t just sit down.

When there was a large enough break between clouds, Neil pointed out some simple constellations to the monsters.

“That’s Canis Major, the Big Dog. It’s a winter constellation so soon we won’t be able to see it at night. It’ll be too far over the horizon.”

“WOWIE! I Didn’t Know That The Stars Move!” Papyrus said, making Neil laugh.

“Well I don’t know much about astronomy, but it’s not the stars that move, it's the earth. Our planet is spinning rapidly in its orbit around the sun.”

“What!” Undyne said. She was trying to be quite, as to not ruin the moment, but her excitement came with volume. “Dude that’s awesome!”

Bryce muttered something under his breath, but Sans couldn’t hear what it was.

“Hey, Neil.” Cade spoke up after a few moments of peaceful silence. “What’s that star?” they were pointing to a seemingly random star in the sky. It was dim and didn’t stand out very much.

“The star itself? I dunno. It’s near Orion, but I don’t know the star names. Why?”

“ _I_ know what it is.” They said with a smug grin.

“Oh? And what’s that, kiddo?”

“A death wish. In 2.3 billion years it’s going to explode and become a super-massive black hole, and take out that square inch of space we’re looking at right now.”

Sans stared at the point Cade was talking about, and Neil laughed.

“Sounds about right, kid. Someday that’ll happen to our sun too, apparently. Aint that something?”

“What’s a black h-hole?” Alphys asked.

“Oh!” Corie said suddenly, turning around to face Alphys excitedly. “I’ve got this one! I forget y’all were underground so you couldn’t get a good education about space! There are so many things for you to learn!” she scooted closer to Alphys, who seemed excited to learn, yet afraid of Corie’s excited attitude.

“So, the sun and stars are made of super hot gases and fire, yeah? Well over time, the core begins to implode on itself, and when it is down to a speck – I’m talkin ‘bout the size of my fist, you know – all that condensed energy and mass is too much for such a small space to hold onto, and it explodes! Boom!” she flings her arms outward, and Alphys jumps back a little. “It basically rips a hole in space and the hole starts sucking in everything around into itself! Like unplugging the drain in the bathtub! Nothing can escape a black hole’s vacuum, not even _light_.”

“W-wow, Coriander, you’re s-so sm-smart!”

She laughed loudly. “Nah! That’s literally the only thing I actually learned from my high school Astronomy class! It’s not that great!”

“S-st-still! You taught me something new! That’s incredi-dible!”

“Oh, you…” Corie blushed and scooted back over to Bryce. He wrapped an arm around her and purred a little.

* * *

 

When Frisk started falling asleep (while declaring that they definitely _weren’t_ tired) Toriel decided it was time to go. Everyone helped tidy up and the monsters returned their sweaters to the designated box.

As they walked out, Sans stopped Solomon casually.

“Hey, if it’s okay for us to come meet your band tomorrow, call me?” he handed Solomon a piece of paper with his number on it. “it’s a monster number but it should work fine.”

Solomon took the paper and grinned. “I’ll check in and call you as soon as I know, ok?”

“sounds good.”

He left with a spring in his step.

* * *

 

The next morning he woke up with a few texts from an unknown number.

_Sorry, I said I’d call but texting is easier_

_Coal says you guys can come_

_Come by The Nook Café at around 1:30_

_Oh, this is Solomon._

Sans chuckled and checked the time. 9:00 am. Plenty of time. He texted Solomon that they’d be there, and got an immediate response of a smiley face.

Papyrus was doing squats in the living room when Sans wandered out of his room.

“Ey bro. Solomon’s band is practicing at 1:30, you still up for going?”

“OF COURSE!” he huffed as he continued his workout, “I NEVER GO BACK ON WHAT I SAY! IT IS WHAT MAKES ME SO GREAT!”

“really? I thought it was your incrediball biceps.” He pointedly looked at Papyrus’s shoulders, where he had donned his MTT Brand Basketballs.

“Nyeh! IF YOU ARE TRYING TO MESS UP MY WORKOUT WITH PUNS, SANS, IT IS NOT WORKING! I AM “In The Zone” AS I’VE HEARD HUMANS AND UNDYNE SAY.”

“heh. You got me. I’m gonna make some bfast.”

* * *

 

Sans already knew where to go, which seemed to impress Papyrus. It’s not like he had _been there already_ or something.

They wandered into the café, which was empty besides the barkeep washing glasses and Solomon, sitting with a man who seemed too big for his own skin. They were sitting across from each other, drinking coffee, and signing to each other.

“ey buddy, where’s the band?” Sans asked as they approached. Papyrus was getting distracted by the odd art on the walls. Solomon looked up quickly and waved.

“Coal and Flume are in the back, this is Marble, our Drummer.”

The large man waved at them and nodded.

“Marble, huh? Interesting name for a human.”

“Oh, Marble isn’t a human. He’s a monster, but he has a cloaking magic to make him appear more human. He also can’t speak.”

Marble nodded again, and tapped a rhythm on the table top. Papyrus, done looking at the art, stepped forward and shook his hand.

“HELLO! YOU MUST HAVE COME FROM THE CAPTIAL, FOR I HAVE NEVER MET YOU BEFORE!”

Marble gave a huff-like chuckle and nodded.

***I’m a city slicker at heart, sadly. I’d be best up on a mountain to be honest.*** Marble signed.

“REALLY? WHY IS THAT?”

***I’m an earth elemental. Under all this magic cloaking I just look like a pile of rocks.***

“WOWIE! I HAVE NOT MET MANY ELEMENTAL MONSTERS BEFORE! ONLY GRILLBY!”

“yeah, that’s pretty cool. How’d you do the cloaking?”

*Coal’s magic can cloak things. Like oil on a pan. You’ll get it when you meet him.*

At that point, the back door opened and two young men walked out. They had similar faces, the same buzz-cut, but one had sleek black hair, and the other’s was bright red. Red also had a scruffy goatee on his chin.

“and they’re monsters too, I assume?” Sans asked. He was pretty impressed with this cloaking magic. He couldn’t tell they were monsters; even their souls appeared human at first glance.

“Ah,” Solomon turned to them and waved them over. “yep, that’s Coal and Flume. Twins.”

They approached the table, eyeing Sans and Papyrus.

“These your friends, Solomon?” the redhead asked.

“yeah, this is Sans and Papyrus. Guys, this is Flume. The other guy is Coal.” Solomon pointed at the two men to introduce them, and smiled.

“nice to meetchya, you both seem like pretty coal dudes.” Sans said with ease.

Coal looked shocked, and Flume started laughing. His image flickered like a flame with each guffaw, until his previously red hair was replaced with fire and his skin became dark and dry, like burnt wood.

“You have no idea, buddy.” He breathed as he quieted to low chuckles. “looks like I’ll just be going full monster today, I laughed off that spell.”

Coal turned to Solomon, still looking surprised. “You didn’t tell us your friends were monsters. Jeez, all this work on cloaks and I didn’t need them in the first place.” His form flickered as well, but unlike Flume’s burning, his began to drip from his body until all that was left was a black, oily form. There were two white eyes floating on the surface of the face, but nothing else. the oil and pan metaphor made sense suddenly.

Elementals were weird.

“WOW! WHAT INCREDIBLE DISGUISES! YOU CERTAINLY HAD ME FOOLED!” Papyrus cried.

“Well,” Flume said cheerfully, “We should get to practicing, shouldn’t we?”

The band went to the small stage where their instruments sat, and began setting up, while Sans and Papyrus found some seats not far from them. Papyrus was giddy to see live music, and wouldn’t sit still.

“hey, Paps.”

“YES-Oh, I Should Be Quieter, Shouldn’t I? Yes, Brother?”

“how’s about you go ask if you can get us drinks from the guy at the bar?”

“Good Idea!” he sprang up and marched towards Aster, who winked suggestively at Papyrus. Sans would’ve been worried, had he not met Aster before. The guy seemed to have more bark than bite.

Solomon and the band began practicing some songs Sans didn’t know well, but they were pretty good, despite several stumbles. It was clear they hadn’t been doing this long, but each player was good on their own. It seemed it was the working together that had the most problems. But Sans had seen how they turned out, and wasn’t worried.

Papyrus returned with two human sodas, infused with monster magic. Aster had given it to them on the house, which Sans found odd until he looked over at the bar and saw Aster watching all of them with a weird love-struck expression. He was reminded of the way Aster had been so happy to see Sans get along with Solomon in a previous timeline. The horned man cared so much for Solomon, and seeing the way he interacted with all of these other monsters, Sans had a good idea of why.

It suddenly dawned on him. It really sunk in, that he had at least twelve more years of this. He didn’t have to be sitting on the edge of his seat, waiting for another reset anymore.

He sat back in his chair with his soda, more relaxed than he’s felt in a long time. As Flume messed up a chord on his guitar, an easy smile grew on his face, and he sighed contentedly.

He could get used to this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't intend to add 3 more characters when we only have 2 chapters left. but it happened and I'm not getting rid of my nymph Ocs so you guys'll have to live with it. it's not like they're detrimental to the plot, i just really like them.
> 
> this whole chapter was made so i could write the crew in disgusting christmas sweaters.


	19. Bryce is More Important Than You May Think

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for this rollercoaster

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok, so i left the undertale fandom, but im not leaving this story unfinished. its just not the top of my priority list right now. there is one more chapter after this, but since im working on so many other stories AND college stuff, it will, again, be a while.  
> also, its been over a year since i posted this? holy shit? i saw recently that i was still getting new hits on this and i just wanna give a shout out to those folks cause they are basically the people who got me thinking i should go ahead and try to finish this even though im not interested in undertale anymore.

Five months into their endeavors on the surface, and Sans was woken up early one morning by Frisk. They had slept over the previous night so that Toriel and Asgore could go to a late meeting.

***sans, wake up.***

“’m up boss… wha’s wrong?”

***we need to get Flowey.***

“…Why?”

And that’s how he wound up teleporting the kid to Mt. Ebott at 4:00 am on a Saturday. The day he usually got to sleep in till noon. He was asleep on his feet as he teleported down to the ruins with Frisk.

He didn’t even _like_ Flowey. Yet here he was.

If asked, his excuse would be that nobody deserved being trapped down there forever.

He was so tired; he barely registered when they found the little guy. He had ruffled his petals and screamed at them, but Frisk just grinned and scooped him into a flower pot. Did they have that with them the whole time? Damn. Bed sounded pretty good to him right then.

The whole ordeal took them maybe fifteen minutes because of Flowey’s complaining. The little shit just couldn’t be grateful, could he? But they got back home in less than a second, and Sans was back in bed before Frisk could ask him to make them breakfast. It was 4:16 am and that noon wake up time was still in reach.

* * *

 

A year into their time on the surface, Corie gave birth to a little girl with an upside-down spring green soul. Anna was a hit with all the monsters, especially, surprisingly, with Marble. Turned out the boulder of a monster was a huge mute softie.

She still took after Bryce, and was learning to speak both English and Bryce’s ancient monster tongue by three months.

Everything was running smoothly, and the quadruplets agreed. Sans checked in with them every so often to make sure they weren’t up to no good, and even though they were visibly annoyed with him at this point, their reassurances that there would not be any more resets for a long time made him much more relaxed.

Six years on the surface, and a face Sans had only seen once came into the world.

While Anna had been a saint of a little girl, Seamus was a screamer. He had the vocal chords of a bird of prey, and god damn did that kid use them. If that wasn’t alarming enough, the pure white human soul he possessed was a bit of a shocker as well. Together, Seamus and Anna’s souls were quite the sight.

Sans hadn’t gotten to know Seamus at all previously, but he had known the kid for less than two months and he could tell the kid had some serious problems with his dad. Nobody could explain it, but anytime Bryce held Seamus, the little bird kid would ruffle his downy feathers and shriek like a hawk. He wouldn’t stop crying and making a fuss until Corie or Sidney would take him back. Paps had been heartbroken when it was found that not even he could settle the kid down.

But it was a real testament to his character when his first word left his beak. Anna’s first words had been a semi-well put together sentence towards Bryce, in his family’s tongue that no one but him could understand. He had beamed with pride and paraded Anna around afterwards. Seamus, on the other hand, had looked Bryce dead in the eye and said, quite loudly, “No, Bryce.”

Corie found it hilarious. It became normal for the kid to say “No, Bryce.” Whenever the guy tried to help with taking care of his kid. Corie cackled every time, and Bryce got more and more upset, once getting fed up and whining, “stop laughing! You’re egging him on!” which only served to make Corie laugh harder.

Nine years is when everything changed.

Frisk was basically having a sleepover with Anna and Seamus every weekend. Sometimes Corie would ask one of the monsters to walk the kids home, because she had work, or needed a nap.

Seamus always came home directly after school, but Anna had an engineering club after school she attended, so she didn’t come home until five most days. Bryce usually took her home.

Today was no different.

Sans met up with them during their walk, and listened intently to Anna’s description of a robot claw they were all making together. She was in the middle of explaining a joint her group was working on wiring, when Bryce tensed up and his ears flicked back and forth.

“hey, Anna, sorry to interrupt you, but could you stay with Sans for a second? I need to check on something.” Bryce said calmly, letting go of his daughter slowly. He smiled and kissed her forehead, and the young girl brushed off his odd behavior, opting to turn to sans and continue her explanation.

Sans wasn’t convinced everything was fine, though. He listened to every word out of Anna’s mouth, but he kept an eye on Bryce as he walked back where they came from and stopped in front of a spot a restaurant put their garbage out. He was saying something, but sans couldn’t tell what it was.

“Hey, Anna, do you know what you do when someone you care about is in danger?” Sans asked as four people emerged from around the corner, facing off with Bryce. Anna looked confused for a moment, until she looked over to where her dad stood, and she growled.

“those guys have been following us on our way home for weeks now.” She grumbled. “I guess daddy is asking them to stop.” His words seemed to sink in and she looked up at him in shock. “do you think they’re gonna hurt him?”

“I don’t know, but I’ve got a bad feeling.”

“You’ll help him if something bad happens right?”

“I’ll do what i can, buddy.” Sans was, after all, not the type to make promises.

They leaned against a nearby building and Anna continued to talk about her day, though her enthusiasm was much more subdued. Everything seemed fine farther down the street, but then again, Sans didn't want to risk taking his eyes off any potential monster-hating humans. There were very few at this point, but he remembered what happened last timeline, with Bryce dying.

One man in the group, a tall blond with green eyes and a complexion that looked more airbrushed than like actual skin, stepped forward and pat Bryce on his shoulder. He was all smiles and must have been the group leader, as his arm moved across Bryce’s shoulder in an odd hug-like move. He was still talking, though Sans couldn't hear what about. Bryce was still listening intently, like the good man he was. So much so, that he missed the cue the blond man made with the hand wrapped around Bryce’s shoulders.

Sans stepped away from the wall, but a shimmer caught his eye. There was a film around the four unknown men, much like the cloaking around Flume, Coal, and Marble. These guys were monsters.

Sans chuckled at himself for being so quick to judge, and Anna looked at him quizzically.

“It’s ok, Anna, those guys are monsters. They just have cloaks on, like Solomon’s band.” Anna didn't look convinced, but she did put a little more feeling into her descriptions.

He looked away for two minutes, and apparently that’s all it took for everything to go to shit.

He hadn’t even heard the scuffle, too focused on Anna’s story. but she had not lowered her guard, and had continued to glance behind him at her dad. It was her scream that made him turn quickly to see one of the three henchmen pulling a butterfly knife out of Bryce’s back, and the others running. The one with the blade looked up at them and smiled as his cloaking flickered away to show an insectoid creature with large moth wings. It took flight after its companions as Sans and Anna ran towards Bryce.

“Daddy!” Anna cried out when she reached him. He coughed, but all that came out of his mouth was dust. He managed to smile at Anna when she knelt next to him.

“H-hey sweetie pie, why the long face? There’s no horse in our family tree.” it was a line Bryce used often when Anna was upset, and it usually got a bit of a laugh out of her, but this time it only pulled more tears from her.

“Don’t!” Anna said, “don’t joke about that… not now, you’re hurt, daddy, what can we do to help? Sans, what can we do?”

The area around Bryce’s wound was starting to turn ashen and crumble. Sans knew just from that, that there wasn’t much they could do besides make him comfortable.

“Lets let him lie down, alright, Anna? I-I can’t think of anything else to do besides that.”

“I-Isn’t there some magic you can do?” Anna sniffled as she set her dad down next to her lap.

“We’d need a magic transfer and I don't have compatible magic. I can’t think of anyone with orange magic. My bro and i have blue, which is more likely going to hurt him more if we try anything.”

“O-oh…” Anna was very clearly trying to stay strong and to hold onto some semblance of hope, but sans was quickly losing it.

“Oh my word, what is happening out here?’

Sans looked up to see a woman in the doorway of the building the were in front of. It looked to be some sort of bar and nightclub, but was closed at the moment. The woman was very clearly made out of water. She rippled and changed shape as she moved towards them.

“My daddy got stabbed! Can you help us? Sans says he needs a magic transfusion!”

“Oh my goodness, get him inside! I’ll see if any of us can do a transfer!”

The water elemental helped Sans carry Bryce into the bar, where she set him on the bartop that stretched into a circle in the center of the club like an island. Bryce groaned and coughed up more dust while the elemental raced off to a back room.

She returned a moment later with a vaguely familiar pixie-like teenager and a very large man covered in tattoos that made him appear skeletal. At seeing the “guests,” they both raced forward, and the man shed a cloak, showing that his true form was an even taller, lanky shadow creature with a white face that almost resembled a beaked mask. Almost.

He loomed over Bryce’s cringing body, moving his shirt to examine the place the knife had stabbed through his abdomen. He made a strange hiss-clacking noise that only the teenager seemed to understand, as they nodded and grimaced.

“This is bad, sir.” they spoke with a slight southern drawl. Sans hadn’t taken the time to notice before; being distracted by his dying friend and strange doctor, but the teen had marbled brown and white skin. He nearly compared it to a chocolate vanilla swirl-cone, but even those had some semblance of a pattern to them. This kid’s skin was more like creamy white paint splattered across an otherwise dark brown canvas. Their ears, visible from the short cut of their hair, were long and pointed, and two pairs of clear, veiny wings hung limply from their back.

“Could ya tell us what happened?”

Bryce tried to give a chuckle, but he winced and choked on his own dust. The monster above him created an orange glow around his arms - which ended in points instead of hands - and began trying to clean up the edges of Bryce’s wound. It made him squirm under the touch, and Anna held his hand as he tried to collect his thoughts.

“There’s, uhh, been four guys following me and my daughter home the last f-few weeks. I approached them today to find out what they wanted. It wasn’t much, just a couple of monsters wanting to know where i got my daughter’s cloak. Umm… I hear it a lot, since n-no one can tell she’s a monster.” the teen and looming shadow nodded after a quick glance at Anna. “ now, uhh… the question is a good one, and i could tell where they were coming from. Their cloaks were terrible. I’m sure they just wanted some way to fit in with humans better. Uhh… but… well Anna’s mother is a human. Anna is half-human.”

The shadow jolted and took a step back to avoid hurting Bryce further, but the loss of his magic, made the dusting come back twice as fast. He jumped back quickly to continue his work through his shock.

“I, ah… never heard of humans havin kids with monsters.” the teen whispered in awe.

“Neither had they. The main man in the group introduced himself as Rolan or something? He wanted to know where i got a human who could “do the do” with us. No way was i gonna tell him who my Coriander is, but they sure didn’t like that. Umm… shit, that hurts. They stopped being friendly real -ah- real quick.” he pointedly looked down at his torso to further his point.

“Have any of you called the police?” They asked, and Sans shook his head. “Y’all better do that. And loved ones.”

The shadow clicked at the pixie kid again, and they nodded before waving Sans away.

“Pops says the Sphynx isn't gonna make it. Even though their magics match up, pop’s is much weaker than most monsters. Sphynx are usually very high up on the power line. Pops can't project enough magic into him for a transfusion of that quantity.”

Sans rubbed the back of his head. “Ah jeez… You got all that from a few clicks?”

“You're gonna want to call his wife, sir.”

“...yeah, alright.”

* * *

 

Coriander was beside herself when Sans called. Seamus had been put down for a nap, Solomon was over to help her with dinner, and it should have been just a few more minutes until Bryce and Anna came back from work and school.

The call was unexpected, and frankly, she wanted to go out and dust the monsters who had done it before anything else. But instead, she dropped everything, grabbed Seamus (waking him from his sleep and making him make groggy bird noises) and launched herself out the door.

She didn't even tell Solomon, who was left in the kitchen, trying to process the whirlwind of activity that had just swept through the house.

When she got to the bar, she didn't bother to knock, she just kicked the door in, Seamus on her hip, and frown on her face. Seamus was trying his best at copying her menacing glare. All of her rough exterior melted, though, when her gaze landed on Bryce, wheezing on the bar. He couldn't even manage to look over to her. She handed Seamus off to the pixie girl standing to the side, and leaned over her husband. Behind her, she could faintly hear the teenager whispering to Seamus, who giggled in response, but her attention didn't stray from Bryce.

“Oh sweetie, my honey, wh-what happened?” She put her hand to his fuzzy cheek and he opened his eyes to look hazily at her. She didn't even notice the others going to the back room to give them space.

“C-cor…” Bryce coughed, and chalk-like powder covered his front.

“Shh…” She gushed, while stroking his cheek. “I’ve got you. I know I asked you a question but you don't have to answer it.”

“Heh… I… Love your… Questions…” Bryce murmured, bringing tears to Corie’s eyes.

“Doesn't… That doesn't mean you gotta answer them.”

“D-don't be ridiculous, how else could I flirt with you?” His strength to speak dropped again as he coughed powder into Corie’s face and cringed. “...sorry…”

She felt tears drip down her cheeks and shook her head.

“You idiot, I don't need you saying words to know you're flirting.”

He chuckled, but winced in pain as his legs began to disintegrate. Corie, for once, lost her words as she just sat beside him and clutched at him.

The minutes ticked by, and with them, more and more of Bryce crumbled. There was white powder on the counter-top and floor, and all over Corie’s hands, but that wouldn't stop her from holding her husband as long as she could.

* * *

 

When all was said and done, the pixie girl swept Bryce’s remains into an empty liquor bottle and the four of them made their way home. Sans held Seamus as Corie clutched at the bottle now filled with white powder.

Solomon met them at the door and paled at the sight of his sister looking so dejected. He led her to her room and put her to bed immediately, then met Sans in the living room to find out what happened.

So he recounted all he saw for an hour and a half. Halfway through the explanation, Rafae came out of the back room, intending to head for the kitchen, but they stopped and listened to Sans for a moment before darting back to the room they had just exited. Sans tried not to think about what that could mean.

* * *

 

Later that evening, Toriel came by to talk to Corie about losing loved ones. Solomon was in the kitchen staring at the wall; he had been for the last fifteen minutes. He didn't move when she greeted him quietly, and she just went straight to Corie’s bedroom. Anna was in the nursery with Seamus, trying to explain what had happened in a way that a young kid could understand, but her tears were getting in the way.

Sans, on the other hand, was determined.

He went to the back room, where he found the quadruplets sitting in a circle on the floor. They barely gave him a nod as he walked in.

“Reset.” He demanded.

“No.” Fedir replied, sounding bored.

“This wasn't supposed to happen, we were supposed to be happy. Reset.”

“No.” This time, it was Dempsey who replied.

“What the hell is your problem?” He hissed, eye glowing blue. Several knickknacks on the dresser began to float, but the four continued to stare at nothing in silence.

“Hey!”

“Shut up.” Rafae interrupted. “You don't know shit.”

That actually did shut him up. He expected that from Cade, not from Rafae.

Cade finally turned to him, still wearing their smile, but it was stretched thin, like they didn't actually want to be smiling.

“Bryce always dies.”

“What?”

“It always happens. There are some things you cannot change in life, and Bryce dying today is one of them. This is the best outcome.”

“Oh really? And what's the worst?”

“The same killers following Anna home and murdering the whole family. We know what a good ending looks like, Sans. We aren't _idiots._ Just cause it looks bad doesn't mean it could have been any better.”

Sans went quiet again and slowly sat down. Cade and Dempsey opened up their circle to let him join them. Dempsey laid a comforting hand on his kneecap.

“We like Bryce enough, but the universe does not. A reset will do nothing. The strings of the universe are tied on his death day.” Fedir muttered.

“We told you before. We will not reset just because you asked us to. Even if someone died.” Rafae said.

“You knew this would happen.”

“Yes.” Dempsey said with a nod.

“Then why can't you try to do anything about it?”

“When you live as long as us, Sans,” Cade said. A semblance of their normal smile itched to get purchase on their face once again as they spoke. “From the beginning of the very first universe ever created, simple dates lose all meaning. I can blink and fifty years pass and it means nothing to us. We knew it would happen, we knew the vague idea of when it would happen, but for us, a vague idea is within a 100 year span at least. You don't notice just how fast an hour is until you've lived every single one since time was invented.”

Sans sighed.

“So you won't help?”

“We are, by not resetting. You need to face facts and comfort your friends in times of need. Go make your own ending, Sans.” Dempsey said, patting his shoulder. He slowly stood up and made his way to the door.

“If this is-” he started as he turned back to them, but stopped when he saw that they were all gone. He sighed and went to go comfort Solomon.

* * *

 

Weeks passed, and things didn't get much better. Corie fell into a palpable depression, and only ever got out of bed for her kids and mother. Even then, it was Solomon or the monsters who took Anna and Seamus to school. They took to driving Papyrus’s car instead of walking, too.

The quadruplets vanished for days on ends, and when Sans asked them what was up, they would shrug and talk about alternate universes. Solomon barely noticed since he spent so much time trying to help his sister.

Sans knew he had to do something when he found Anna sitting quietly, staring at the wall of the nursery, doing nothing. Anna was always doing _something_ from reading, to working with her hands, so to see her blank and void of creativity struck Sans deep. Seeing himself in a little girl was _not_ the kind of wake up call he wanted.

“Hey Anna.” he muttered as he came to sit beside her. She shrugged at him and hummed.

“I know things are rough right now, but you can talk to us adults, you know?”

“I… know.”

“Do you?”

She looked anywhere but him. He sighed.

“I’ve lost people close to me before, too. It hurts.”

She nodded. Sans looked around the room, at Seamus’s small bed, and the multitude of toys, from stuffed whales to chemistry sets. An idea came to him suddenly.

“Hey, how would you like to go see a real science lab?”

Anna, while she did not respond in words, turned slightly towards him. She straightened and seemed to be paying closer attention.

“I have one, back under the mountain. If you want, and if the other adults say it’s ok, I could take you down there.”

“...really?”

“Yeah, I should make sure it’s not taken over by bugs or something, anyways. I’ve still got a bunch of unfinished experiments down there.”

“Can we go now?”

He chuckled at her thinly veiled enthusiasm.

“Lets go check in with your uncle, yeah?” he stood and held his hand out to her and she gladly took it.

* * *

 

“You… want to go back under the mountain?” Solomon asked, confused.

“It wont be long, just to go visit my old lab and look through my notes.” he leaned in closer to Solomon as to not let Anna hear from where she waited in the other room. “I think Anna needs time away from everything. This isn't the right environment for a little girl. Or anyone, but she’s so smart, and this loss it taking its toll on her.”

Solomon leaned back and thought, stroking his scruff, then nodded.

“You're right. But don’t be gone too long, Corie may panic.”

“Is she still having anxiety attacks about the kids?”

Solomon nodded slowly. “It’s the worst during school. I do what I can, but I have art commissions to do. I cant take care of her all the time, and sidney still has her job, Neil is pretty shitty at dealing with emotional stuff like this.”

“You know that we are here to help in anyway we can, right?”

“I know, but us Hawthornes are pretty stubborn. To a fault.”

Sans chuckled. “I know. We’ll be back in a few hours, but call if you need us back sooner.”

Solomon nodded and Sans went to collect Anna, who was finally smiling genuinely. He took her hand, and in a flash of blue light, they were far beneath the surface of the earth.

* * *

 

Anna looked around the old dusty lab with wide, wondrous eyes. She slowly let go of his hand in favor of rushing to the various old blueprints he never got around to making.

“This is… so cool…” she whispered.

“Hey Anna, wanna take apart an unfixable machine with me? We can use the parts to make something that does work.” he walked over to the machine under the sheet. He had left this for far too long. There was no use keeping around something that had no use. Anna trotted over and looked at the bulk of the machinery curiously.

“What did it do?”

“Ah, it never worked. I was just too lazy and hung up on it to ever take it apart.”

“But you're not anymore?”

“Oh, I'm still lazy, why else would i have you do it with me?” he said with a grin, making her giggle. “And im still pretty hung up on the past, but at this point, theres nothing i can do about it.”

Anna fell silent as she inspected the plating on the machine more intently than she needed to. You… arent just talking about the machine, are you?”

“I don't know what you're talking about.” he chuckled and grabbed a screwdriver and unscrewing the front plate. Anna peeked inside to see all the wiring, and went to town carefully unplugging each system, as he took it apart from the outside. Every so often, she would ask him what a piece of magic-based equipment was, and he would pull out all stops on explaining each detail. He knew she loved the distraction of knowledge, and he would give it to her willingly.

Two hours later, as they sat on the floor with bits of metal and wiring scattered across the tile between them, Anna spoke up again.

“What are you making, Sans?”

“A very advanced piece of technology. I don't think humans have discovered it yet.” she leaned forward as he held his invention towards her. “Its a hot dog turner. Put the dog on the stick and it rotates itself over the fire.”

Anna giggled.

“How about you, kid?”

“It’s a robot that screams when you get too close.” she held her hand in front of a sensor and the little computer let out a high pitched screech until she pulled away.

“Why would you give a robot that power? One Mettaton was enough.” he joked, and she smiled.

“The engineer volunteer at camp showed me his and I wanted to try it out too.”

They fell silent again for a few minutes, until Anna put her robot aside and looked up at the ceiling.

“Does it stop hurting?”

“What?”

“You said you’ve lost people too. Does it stop hurting?”

Sans sighed and got up to sit beside her and looked up to the ceiling with her. He spent a few minutes trying to collect what he wanted to say, but Anna didn't pry.

“It… never truly stops hurting. There will be days where you don't feel bad, there will be days where you don't feel anything at all, but sometimes it’ll hit you like a ton of bricks again and it’ll take all your strength to not break down. It’ll happen at the most inconvenient times, too. Someone mentions their name, or something sounds like it. You see their favorite food. Somebody talks in their tone of voice. It’s hard. There will be times that you may feel like he’s doing it all to spite you, maybe not today, or tomorrow, but some time, years down the line, you're going to remember him suddenly and it’ll make you mad.”

Anna stayed quiet.

“But with time, you’ll come to terms with it. Yeah, it was super shitty, pardon my French, but death happens to us all, and there are some things that just can’t be changed, no matter how much you wish they didn't happen.”

“...who did you loose?”

He was silent as Anna leaned her head against his shoulder, and then;

“I lost my dad too. It was this machine that took him away, actually. I could never fix it to bring him back. Thought maybe taking it apart finally with you might give me some closure.”

“I think…” she trailed off, trying to keep her thoughts together. “I think that feeling sad about what happened is better than feeling nothing at all. It shows that I cared, right?”

“Yeah, that’s a good point.”

“Even though feeling bad isn't fun, feeling good in this situation wouldn’t be right, because I’ll never see daddy again. It’s something sad. And it doesn't make sense to not feel sad in sad situations, right?”

“I think you are doing the right thing, Anna. It's good to grieve and cry for the people you’ve lost. I should do it more, certainly. I know your dad would. Just remember not to let it eat you alive.”

“Like mom does?”

“I-” he stopped himself from disagreeing outright, because Anna really did have a point. “Corie loved Bryce very much. In a different way than you did. It is expected for her to grieve harder than most. But…”

“... She’s being eaten…”

“Yeah. maybe you should talk to her about your concerns when we get back?”

“I’ll try.”

Sans checked the time, and realized it had been a few more hours.

“We actually should get back now. We’ve been down here a long time.”

“Do I have to talk to her as soon as we get back?”

“Only if you want to, I think you should take it at your own pace.”

She nodded and took his hand, and when she blinked, he zapped right back into the Hawthornes’ living room, and in the middle of an argument.

“Where are they, Solomon?!” Corie screeched right into Sans’ skull when he appeared. “Where’s-” she stopped when she looked down at them, and blinked a few times. She was focused on Anna’s relaxed, happy expression, and the tension held in her shoulders slid away.

“Oh. I’m sorry for yelling, Solomon, I just…”

“It’s ok, Corie. I know you're worried.”

Anna looked between the two of them and frowned. She reached up to take her mothers hand, and when she met her eye, she firmly said, “mom, I want to talk to you. Lets go upstairs.”

Corie chuckled and let Anna lead her up the stairs. Solomon sighed and collapsed on the couch and buried his face in his hands.

“Sorry, I should’ve been watching the clock closer.”

“No, its not your fault, she’s just on… high alert. Missing kids has quickly become a trigger for her.”

“She still shouldn't yell like that.”

“Sans?” the both of them looked over to the quiet voice, which oddly belonged to Cade.

“Yeah?”

“We have something to show you. Can you come to the back room?”

“Sure thing.” he turned to Solomon, gave a shrug, and followed Cade to the room the quadruplets seemed to spend most of their time.

Fedir was hunched over what may have been a timeline, but there were thousands of lines that all crossed each other in various places.

“We made a visual of the alternate universes, dumbed down for you, but I’m afraid that even with all the time put in to simplify it, it’s still a bit much for mortals to understand.”

The paper looked like a kaleidoscope, almost.

“Yeah… wait, why?”

“We told you that Bryce’s death is a constant. And that this is the best possible end game, but that’s not completely true. Yes, Bryce always dies, but we think we have found a way that will end better than this. We would explain, but… well we’d have to explain the visual, and we doubt you could wrap your head around universes where nothing you know to be true exists.” Cade tried to explain.

“Wow, well… why did you guys do this? You aren’t the most benevolent creatures.”

“Three reasons:” Cade said.

“This timeline is getting boring with all it’s depression. Nothing very exciting is happening.” Rafae continued.

“Finding the solution gave us something to do, and gave us an excuse to visit a lot of timelines we haven’t visited in a long time.” Dempsey said.

“And really, we did it just cause we can.” Fedir finished. “Now do you want to continue on in angst world, or do you want to try for a perfect world?”

Sans looked back down the hall, where he could see Solomon on the couch with his head in his hands. Upstairs, somewhere, Anna was telling her mother to stop being a depressed mother hen. He turned back to the quadruplets.

“Let’s do it.”

The four glowed white for a second, and when Sans blinked, he was back in bed in Snowden.

Hopefully this would be the last time.

**Author's Note:**

> Sans needs a hug. I'm not good at happy endings, but for this sad skeleton, I will try.  
> The Hawthornes are actually my original characters from my Avengers Fanfiction, which I have yet to post. Maybe someday. The quadruplets aren't really ~for~ anything in particular.  
> Critiques are always welcome!


End file.
